Congress has agreed to give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration most of the money it requested to keep a struggling weather and climate satellite program on track.

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPPS) would receive $924 million in fiscal 2012, under a conference agreement released Monday night by House and Senate appropriators. That's just shy of the $1.06 billion the Obama administration had requested for JPPS, and well above the $382 million it received last year.

NOAA had lobbied hard for more cash to prevent any further delays to the construction and launch of the program's first satellite, JPSS-1, whose progress was hampered by last year's lean budget. But its success in pushing for more satellite spending appears to eat into the budget for the rest of the agency's programs.

The House-Senate conference report would set aside just under $4.9 billion for NOAA, which received $4.6 billion last year. The deal would boost funding for NOAA's satellite division from $1.4 billion in 2011 to $1.8 billion in 2012, at the same time cutting spending to the agency's ocean, fisheries and research divisions.

The National Weather Service's funding would increase slightly, from $990 million in 2011 to $998 million in 2012. Conferees agreed to make the service's "core life and safety programs" a priority within NOAA, their report says.

The conference agreement would also prevent NOAA from creating a new Climate Service, a plan the House has repeatedly blocked but Senate appropriators had endorsed during their work on 2012 appropriations.

The White House wants to consolidate most of NOAA's existing climate activities in the proposed Climate Service, which it says would help the agency handle a growing demand for information on climate change science and impacts.

The "minibus" conference agreement covers fiscal 2012 spending for the agencies included in the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bills.

The full House and Senate have not yet taken up the measure, which would also extend the current continuing resolution funding government operations, which expires Friday, through Dec. 16.