The Senate will hold dueling votes next week on the House-passed plan to fund the government through October and a competing measure from the upper chamber that would cut about $50 billion less, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today.

Both funding bills are expected to fall short of the 60-vote threshold for passage. But Senate Democrats' introduction of their road map for trimming federal spending -- which strikes all but one of the contentious House-approved riders that would restrict Obama administration environmental policies -- is aimed at coaxing both parties back to the table for more compromises on a long-term fiscal plan, Reid said.

"I hope each [lawmaker] will find renewed motivation to do what we've needed to do since the beginning -- come together, negotiate in good faith and compromise," Reid said in a floor speech today, referring to the challenge of getting 60 votes in his chamber for either the House's continuing resolution or its new Senate counterpart.

"If one side stubbornly demands victory, everybody loses," Reid added, according to remarks released by his office. "That goes for both parties -- and both chambers."

The Senate Appropriations Committee's bill would include about $6 billion in cuts from the White House's 2011 budget request through the end of the fiscal year.

Combined with the $41 billion cut from that level in the continuing resolution (CR) that Congress passed in December and the $4 billion cut that House Republicans won support for this week, that leaves the two parties with a gap of nearly $50 billion in cuts to bridge before the current funding bill runs out two weeks from today.

As expected, the Senate restored much of the spending on energy research and U.S. EPA programs that the House slashed last month (E&E Daily, Feb. 19).

The spending panel, chaired by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), also eliminated dozens of policy riders that the House imposed on the administration through its CR. It described them in a summary as "purely political, meant to score points or placate supporters."

One policymaking provision remains in the Senate proposal, however: language that would delist the gray wolf in Montana and Idaho and prevent groups from challenging such a delisting in court (see related story).

Inserted by Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D), the measure will likely draw cheers from hunting groups and Western officials but has already drawn fire from environmentalists who say Interior is making progress on a solution with northern Rockies states.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) gave an early preview of his party's response to the Senate Democratic CR today by slamming it as "not a serious attempt to cut spending and get our fiscal house in order."

"The visions of each party cannot be more clear, but I am hopeful that as negotiations continue, Democrats will finally listen to people who want real solutions to the economic challenges facing our country," Cantor said in a statement.

Unclear as of this afternoon was whether Senate Republicans would allow Reid's planned side-by-side CR votes to proceed next week. The chamber's minority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), halted a request to schedule that action for Tuesday, earning a quick jab from third-ranked Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York.

Should Senate Republicans continue to object to the proposed side-by-side votes, Schumer said in a statement, they "are agreeing with us that the proposal is too extreme to pass as is. Now that they have admitted they want changes to it just like we do, the real negotiations on the budget can finally begin."

Agencies lose funding, but less

The Senate proposal breaks with the House by restoring funding to many of the environmental and energy programs that saw steep cuts under the House-passed CR, but most agencies are still taking a hit.

EPA would lose $238 million from its environmental programs and management, an 8 percent cut from the fiscal 2010 budget of $3 billion. It would also see a $31 million cut from science and technology funding from its fiscal 2010 budget of $856 million.

Under the Senate proposal, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would get $300 million, a cut of $175 million from fiscal 2010. That is $75 million more than the House bill and the same amount that the president had requested for the current fiscal year.

But the bill would also undo about $1.9 billion in funding cuts for EPA's state and local water infrastructure grants, which did the heaviest lifting in the Republican plan to cut $3 billion from the agency's $10.3 billion budget.

"Most communities cannot afford these projects on their own and EPA's funding is vital if these projects are to get done," the Senate spending panel said in its explanation of the bill, adding that the projects would create an additional 30,400 jobs.

And the Senate proposal would not block the agency from running any of its programs, unlike the House bill, which included measures to stop air and water pollution rules, climate regulations and greenhouse gas reporting requirements. The Senate bill also would not block funding for the energy and climate "czar" position held by Carol Browner, though she is leaving the administration and the White House has announced a plan to fold her office into the Domestic Policy Council.

With regard to the Energy Department, the Senate proposal would be considerably more generous to research programs than the House bill, although it would still slash the agency's proposed spending.

The Office of Science and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a favorite project of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, would face 10 percent cuts compared with the president's fiscal 2011 request. But the $523 million in cutbacks would only be about half as severe as the $1.04 billion House Republicans have proposed trimming.

The agency's nuclear nonproliferation program would see more spending under the Senate draft compared with the House proposal. But the program, part of the National Nuclear Security Administration, would still see a $360 million reduction below the White House request.

At the Interior Department, the Senate proposal would rescind $600 million in surplus funding appropriated to previous wildfire seasons that were not as severe as expected. The Forest Service and Interior agencies would still receive just over $2 billion to respond to wildfires this year, which is enough to address even a severe season, appropriators said.

The rescinded funds would help restore $162 million in House-proposed cuts to operations at the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, ensuring the salaries of 1,045 park rangers, forest rangers, law enforcement rangers and maintenance personnel and preventing the possible closure of facilities, appropriators said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would get $3.2 billion for operations and research under the Senate bill, down from the fiscal 2010 spending level of $3.41 billion. But that is $340 million more than the House bill, which would also block the funding from being used for the agency's planned "climate service."

Several other climate change-related cuts in the House bill are restored in the Senate proposal, such as a measure that would eliminate spending on the World Bank's $635 million Climate Investment Funds. The program gives money for climate responses in developing countries.

Unlike the House-passed bill, the Senate proposal would not stop funding from going to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Senate's long-term CR also follows President Obama's lead in calling for more funding for mine safety in the wake of last year's Upper Big Branch mine explosion that left 29 miners dead.

It calls for spending $367.3 million on the Mine Safety and Health Administration, more than the current $365 million. While the House bill would cut the agency's funding by $1.5 million, the Senate proposal includes funding for MSHA to deal with a large backlog of mine violation appeals.

Reporters Katie Howell, Manuel Quinones and Phil Taylor contributed.