A House subpanel chairman has dropped language from the Interior Department and U.S. EPA fiscal 2013 spending bill designed to protect domestic sheep grazing on public lands, but Republican appropriators have rejected Democratic attempts to strip about 20 other policy riders from the bill.

Appropriations Committee members voted down a bid by Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) to restore funding to the president's National Ocean Policy, which supports regional ocean management plans but has drawn criticism from Republicans who say it will add another layer of bureaucracy and could have far-reaching implications on land management.

Lawmakers also rejected a proposal by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) to charge new inspection fees for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and use the revenue to restore funding to the Fish and Wildlife Service, which stands to see a 20 percent cut in its fiscal 2013 budget.

After debating roughly a dozen amendments -- including separate measures involving EPA tailpipe emissions and Superfund taxes -- the committee adjourned for a House floor vote and said it would resume its markup at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Members continue to spar over a $28 billion fiscal 2013 bill that would cut the agencies' spending by 4 percent while reining in nearly two dozen executive programs or regulations. A vigorous House floor battle is likely if GOP leaders allot time for debate before the August recess, a move that observers say remains unlikely.

Democrats accused Republicans of slashing funding for job-creating public works projects while spoiling clean air and lands that boost tourism and quality of life.

Committee Republicans meanwhile said the bill makes common-sense cuts while supporting programs important to a wide spectrum of lawmakers.

"I wouldn't call this austerity," said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee that wrote the bill. "I would call it a tough budget," but one that sustains the agencies.

Moran, while acknowledging that Simpson faced a skeleton budget allocation from House GOP leaders that forced $1.2 billion in cuts, said Republicans are preparing again to allow a "dump truck" of riders.

"I am so disappointed that as a result of Republicans' blind adherence to the Ryan budget, which abandons the bipartisan budget agreement of last summer, the Interior and Environment Subcommittee is saddled with an unrealistic ... allocation," Moran said.

"We on the Democratic side do not plan to offer many amendments to the bill," he added. "Given the numerous shortcomings with the legislation, it would be like putting lipstick on a pig."

In the name of brevity, Moran offered an amendment seeking to strike roughly 20 sections of the bill, including provisions involving grazing, gray wolves, greenhouse gas reporting, Clean Water Act guidance, coal mining stream buffers and the Forest Service appeals process.

The Moran amendment died on a 19-28 vote.

In a moment of humor, Moran took aim at federal subsidies for grazing cattle on public lands, where a cow and her calf can be fed for $1.35 per month. The discussion was part of a broader debate over whether policy riders in the spending bill -- which include provisions to streamline permitting for ranchers -- were picking special interest winners and losers.

"It costs more to feed those yippy little dogs that women can fit into their purse," Moran said, noting that private lands grazing can cost several times more than public lands. "How is that not an outrageous subsidy that we should not look at along with other subsidies?"

Simpson called Moran's measure a "yippy little dog of an amendment" and asked colleagues to reject it.

One of the riders Moran wanted stripped includes a prohibition on the Office of Surface Mining implementing its forthcoming stream protection rule. The Obama administration said the rule is meant to protect waterways from coal mining. But full committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), like other opponents, said the rule would kill thousands of coal mining jobs.

"This administration has waged war on Appalachian coal over the past three and a half years," Rogers said. "I don't believe Congress should provide OSM with any money."

Rogers cited the recent string of layoffs in Kentucky with coal mining companies facing tough times. "The story is much the same throughout Appalachia," he said.

But environmental advocates insist the stream protection rule will not cause job losses and blame the layoffs on competition from cheap natural gas. Moran said the rider was part of a GOP agenda for "suspension of Clean Water Act enforcement."

In a somewhat surprising move, Simpson offered a manager's amendment that would remove a controversial provision barring land managers from protecting bighorn sheep on public lands if it causes a reduction in domestic grazing.

The language, which was included in Congress' fiscal 2012 omnibus funding bill and became the focus of a federal district court case, is designed to prevent further closures of sheep grazing on Idaho's Payette National Forest but is strongly opposed by environmentalists who argue it would threaten the further spread of a deadly disease from domesticated sheep to their wild kin.

"I'm dedicated to finding a solution to this problem," Simpson said, adding that he intends to hold a roundtable on the issue in the near future, probably in Boise, Idaho.

Republicans also adopted an amendment by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) that would require the Forest Service to recommend "alternative arrangements" to the White House for the restoration and rehabilitation of forests that experienced catastrophic wildfire in 2011 or 2012. The provision appears aimed at streamlining environmental reviews for projects designed to remove post-burn hazard trees.

"This is not requiring that certain exemptions be given at all," Flake said in response to Democratic criticism that the matter be given more debate and public comment.

"The Forest Service did not request it and does not want it," Moran said. "We need to factor in and weigh all the ecological risks."

The overall bill, if passed as expected, will likely spur heated debate should it reach the House floor.

While the chamber abandoned floor debate on its fiscal 2012 Interior-EPA spending bill last summer, nearly all of the legislation's dozens of policy riders were removed in conference with the Senate. Negotiations also resulted in increases to a handful of conservation accounts, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Reporter Manuel Quinones contributed.