The Obama administration is lashing out against a Republican-supported spending bill that would significantly gut the Environmental Protection Agency and threatens to undermine the president's climate change agenda.

The House is expected to take up the spending bill this week. The bill is meant to fund the Department of Interior and the EPA for the next fiscal year.

The bill also contains policy riders that would prohibit the EPA from issuing new power plant rules that are the centerpiece of President Obama's climate change agenda.

The White House on Tuesday came out strongly opposing the measure, saying it would inhibit the EPA's regulations for existing power plants, known as the Clean Power Plan, stall newly finalized water quality regulations, and undermine the agency's ability to push through stricter ozone rules.

Shaun Donovan, the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on a conference call that the bill is "irresponsible," representing an attempt to "jam through ideological ... riders" that would undercut public health and the environment.

The White House issued a veto threat for the spending bill in recent weeks.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy joined Donovan on the call to admonish the bill, which will be voted on this week. She condemned the spending bill as "far-reaching," with "policy restrictions … and budget constraints" that would severely undercut the mission of the agency.

She said three policy riders, in particular, target the agency's Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the U.S. rule, and new ozone standards the agency is developing under its national air quality program. The spending bill would "prohibit" the agency from finalizing the Clean Power Plan, which she described as a "flexible" program for the states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country 30 percent by 2030.

Similarly, the Clean Water Rule — also known as the Waters of the U.S. — would be delayed, she said.

The bill also seeks to legislate how EPA conducts scientific analysis in devising its regulations by curtailing the science budget, she said. This would "undermine … science practices" by "trying to legislate science," McCarthy said.

It also shaves the EPA budget by 14 percent. "[I]f the agency doesn't have enough money to operate…, the protection of public health will be compromised," she said.

Nevertheless, Donovan said he is optimistic that Democrats and Republicans will work to rectify the problems in the bill that he said were ideological and don't belong in a spending bill.

"We are deeply disappointed in the bill," he said, but "we are optimistic" on the chance of getting a deal through. "It's clear that the only way forward [is] to negotiate a compromise" between Republicans and Democrats.

Many of the regulations the bill targets are being contested in the courts by scores of states that argue the rule represent significant federal overreach. Nearly 30 states sued the EPA last week over its Clean Water Rule, and earlier Tuesday McCarthy said she anticipated being sued over the power plant rules.