Republican senators are grumbling about provisions of an ostensibly bipartisan bill that would send to the Gulf Coast states billions of dollars in fines following last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, GOP sources say, raising new doubts about the bill's chance of becoming law.

A bipartisan group of nine senators unveiled the bill (S. 1400) in a July press conference, declaring it the successful result of months of difficult, closed-door negotiations over how to fairly distribute money (E&ENews PM, July 21).

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and headed to markup Wednesday afternoon by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, would capture 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties resulting from the spill and divide that among Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Under current law, the money would flow into a Treasury trust fund to pay for future spill cleanups.

Fines are expected to range from $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion, based on the size of the spill. The final dollar figure will likely be negotiated between companies deemed responsible and the Justice Department.

Senate Republicans are raising concerns about language they view as expensive and unnecessary -- in particular, a provision included at the request of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that would establish and fund a national oceans trust fund to support research, according to GOP sources.

"One of the questions is how much is that going to cost?" said a GOP aide familiar with the concerns, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the issue publicly. "Putting that kind of language on a bill could hurt its long-term prospects. It probably would not get much farther than the committee."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a spending hawk who nonetheless attended the July press conference in support of the bill, also is said to be concerned about language that would add to its cost, the aide said. A Rubio spokesman did not respond to a request for comment as of publication time.

Aides on both sides expect the bill to win committee approval on Wednesday. Asked about the possibility of the bill's stalling beyond that, Landrieu spokesman Robert Sawicki said the senator was "far more optimistic than that."

"Our coalition represents a pretty unique thing in this Congress: It is a bipartisan group of senators from across the political spectrum, who represent all five states that were affected by the oil spill," said Sawicki. "There are a lot of powerful members that are a part of that, that are committed to this bill and still are committed to this bill. But nothing's easy, and we've got a lot of hard work to do."

A price tag has yet to be affixed to the legislation by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is not expected to score the bill before it is reported out of committee.

The measure's chances of becoming law will hinge on the size of that number, which will be estimated based on the size of past oil spill settlements as well as other factors, provided the actual settlement figure is not available, according to aides working on the bill. If it is, a score of 80 percent of that figure will be assigned.

Supporters of the bill are hoping it will pass before the settlement is struck, as an estimated cost is perceived to be more politically palatable than a real price tag numbering in the billions of dollars.

During an Environment and Public Works Committee meeting in July, when Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced that the scheduled vote that day for the bill had to be postponed because of unresolved differences, Sen. Whitehouse pledged to "rally support" for the measure -- so long as it included money for his oceans trust fund (Greenwire, July 13).

"I'm prepared to support it, and to rally support for it very energetically, so long as it has that national component to it," Whitehouse said.

It's unclear whether Whitehouse would be willing to forgo the language in a compromise to see the bill pass the full Senate. A spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

A Democratic aide said he remained optimistic about the Gulf spill bill, since the legislative push has garnered widespread congressional and grass-roots support for the bill's central purpose: to set aside 80 percent of spill penalty funds for the states that suffered the brunt of the damage. He said the effort has "completely changed the conversation."

"I think we've won that battle and convinced people that this is the right thing to do," the aide said.

Wednesday's committee markup will also include consideration of a bill to restore the San Francisco Bay (S. 97) and of the nomination of Ken Kopocis to become the assistant administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Water.

Schedule: The markup will be Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen.