The House is expected to vote later this week on the fiscal 2013 energy and water spending bill after beginning consideration last week with votes on a dozen amendments.

The $32.1 billion bill to fund the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies returns to the floor tomorrow with continued debate on amendments.

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the Appropriations Committee's ranking member, said last week that Democrats had about 20 amendments they expected to offer on the bill. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), who chairs the energy and water subcommittee, said last week that he had been briefed on at least 40 pending amendments.

Debate on amendments began Friday, when the House struck down a Republican's attempt to eliminate DOE's renewable and efficiency programs along with a handful of other measures aimed at adjusting funding levels in the bill (E&ENews PM, June 1). The highlight of the first day of debate was a failed effort from House Democrats to strip language from the bill that would prevent enactment of a controversial guidance document that clarifies the scope of the Clean Water Act (Greenwire, June 1).

Among the measures expected to come up this week are an amendment from Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) to further increase NRC funding to license the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository (E&ENews PM, June 1). The bill already provides $25 million for that purpose, to which Shimkus would add $10 million.

The White House already has said President Obama would likely veto the spending bill because of its cuts to clean energy research, its promotion of Yucca Mountain and its inclusion of "policy riders" such as the language on the Clean Water Act guidance and efforts to block weatherization and efficiency programs (E&E Daily, June 1).

The underlying bill cuts $965 million from the president's request for energy and water programs. It sets aside $26.3 billion for DOE, less than the $27.2 billion Obama requested; however, it provides $4.8 billion for the Army Corps, a slight boost from the president's $4.73 billion request, as is typical for the agency.

House Republicans presented the bill as their latest effort to confront high gasoline prices, directing DOE to investigate the root of the problem, but Democrats complained that clean energy programs were slashed in the bill at the expense of fossil energy. DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would see its budget fall to $1.45 billion, compared with more than $1.8 billion in fiscal 2012, whereas the Office of Fossil Energy funding would remain relatively stable, going to $554 million from $564 million this year.

Some Republicans wanted to go even further to gut the renewable and efficiency office. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) on Friday offered an amendment to eliminate its funding, although the gambit failed, 113-275.

McClintock also had filed amendments in the Congressional Record last week to eliminate all fossil energy funding and to cut about $514 million of the $765 million appropriated to nuclear energy. Neither of those amendments has yet been considered on the floor.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) also had filed an amendment last week to prevent DOE from issuing any new loan guarantees under Section 1703 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. That amendment has yet to come to the floor.

Schedule: The House resumes consideration of amendments to the energy and water spending bill tomorrow at 2 p.m.