House appropriators approved by voice vote today a $19.4 billion agriculture spending plan for fiscal 2013.

Despite efforts by Democrats to restore funding, the package includes a steep cut to the budget of the agency tasked with regulating speculation in the oil futures markets. It also reduces spending on rural conservation programs.

Overall, the legislation would reduce discretionary spending by $365 million compared with current levels and provide $1.7 billion less than President Obama requested.

Earlier this year, Senate appropriators unanimously approved a $20.1 billion discretionary spending bill for agriculture programs and the Food and Drug Administration.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the House bill represents a "careful balance between fiscal restraint and acceptable spending."

The bill, though, drew sharp criticism from committee Democrats. Appropriations Committee ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) accused the Republican leadership of reserving "the very worse austerity" for the few remaining appropriations bills.

"The agriculture appropriations bill is a victim of this poor allocation," he said.

Democrats also criticized the bill's cut to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and voted for an amendment that would boost its budget. The amendment by Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Agriculture Appropriations subpanel, fell by a vote of 19-27.

The commission had requested $308 million for the second year in a row, citing expanded responsibilities with the 2010 financial reform package. The act requires CFTC to set position limits on excessive speculation and regulate the $300 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market for the first time in its history.

The commission has fallen behind on a number of rules, including position limits.

As gasoline prices soared earlier this year, House Democrats called on appropriators to fully fund the agency, citing speculation as a major factor in the pressures at the pump.

The bill provides $180 million for the agency or about $127.6 million below Obama's request and about $25 million below current spending levels.

"I was prepared to consider a lean bill," Farr said in an opening statement. "But I think there comes a point in budget exercises when you starve the program so much, it just can't function. I fear that's where this bill is going."

Farr's amendment would have added an additional $40 million to CFTC, bringing its budget up to about $224 million.

The committee did agree to adopt an amendment by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) that, by prohibiting funding from going toward inspections of horse slaughter facilities, would effectively reinstate a five-year ban on horse slaughter in the United States.

The ban had been in place from 2006 to 2011 but was lifted in the fiscal 2011 agriculture appropriations bill. Moran tried to add the same amendment last year in the appropriations process, but it was removed during conference committee.

The bill approved by the Appropriations Committee also cuts funding to programs that help farmers make environmental improvements on their lands. Programs would receive a $500 million cut compared with what they would receive under the current farm bill's authorized levels.