The Senate has scheduled a procedural vote tomorrow to allow debate to begin on the fiscal 2012 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill.

The "minibus" package combines the Energy-Water, Financial Services and State-Foreign Operations 2012 spending bills.

The energy and water legislation is expected to closely mirror a measure the Senate Appropriations Committee passed in September, which included $31.625 billion in discretionary spending for DOE, Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers, but no funding for the highly controversial nuclear repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada (E&E Daily, Nov. 7).

Approved on a 29-1 vote, the bill would spend $57 million less than was enacted in 2011 and $4.9 billion less than what President Obama requested.

Senators are planning to introduce a host of amendments that could touch on prickly issues, such as funding the Yucca Mountain repository, addressing the cost of new transmission lines and blocking the Obama administration's new clean water policies (E&ENews PM, Nov. 8).

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who has been discussing a possible amendment with other lawmakers to include funding for Yucca Mountain, said yesterday that his proposal is gaining traction. The measure is likely to meet stiff opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a vocal opponent of the project who has vowed to keep the repository shut.

"It's overwhelmingly popular," Kirk said during an interview. "Last time we voted on it in the House, we got over 300 votes. I think it's to set the stage for keeping this program alive until we have a change in Senate leadership and then locking it in."

The Obama administration has abandoned the repository, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has moved to close down its review of the DOE application to construct the site.

The Senate approved a similar "minibus" bundle of spending bills earlier this month to set 2012 funding levels for the Agriculture and Transportation departments and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Reporter Paul Quinlan contributed.