INBOUND TO HOU; A B737-700 CREW JOINED THE LOC AT 6000 FT AND AT APPROX 22 MI OUT ARE; 'CLRED FOR APCH;' WITHOUT A LOWER ALT ISSUED.

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APCHING HOU; WE RECEIVED CLRNC 'DIRECT MARIT AND CROSS 10000 FT' FROM HOU ARTCC. UPON HDOF TO HOU APCH; WE RECEIVED CLRNC TO 'JOIN RWY 12R LOC AND PROCEED INBOUND.' AFTER MARIT INTXN; WHILE TRACKING RWY 12R LOC; WE RECEIVED INSTRUCTIONS TO DSND TO 6000 FT. AFTER HDOF TO ANOTHER APCH CTL FREQ; WE WERE TOLD TO EXPECT LOWER. WHEN APPROX 22 NM DME; WE WERE GIVEN A CLRNC 'CLRED FOR ILS RWY 12R.' CHKING THE PLAN VIEW OF THE APCH; I DETERMINED DSCNT COULD NOT BEGIN UNTIL JABBS INTXN; WHICH IS BARELY 13 NM FROM THE RWY END. I INSTRUCTED THE FO TO 'ASK FOR LOWER.' HE DID; AND THE CTLR REPLIED 'I TOLD YOU WERE CLRED FOR THE APCH;' IMPLYING THAT WAS ALL HE NEEDED TO SAY; AND WE COULD DSND. WE WERE NOT ON A PUBLISHED RTE; AND I KNEW WE COULD NOT DSND UNTIL WE WERE. WORDS WERE EXCHANGED; BUT WE WERE FINALLY ISSUED DSCNT CLRNC AND THEN APCH CLRNC. SEVERAL MI WERE TRAVELED DURING THIS EXCHANGE OF WORDS; AND IT WAS NECESSARY TO SLOW THE ACFT; CONFIGURE AND MAKE A DIVE DOWN TO THE GS. ALL OF THIS OCCURRED IN VMC CONDITIONS WITH A STABLE APCH ACHIEVED PRIOR TO 1000 FT ALT. HAD THIS BEEN ACTUAL IMC CONDITIONS; THIS COULD HAVE BEEN UNSAFE. AS A PRACTICAL MATTER; THERE WAS NO TERRAIN CLRNC PROB; BUT I COULD NOT 'LEGALLY' BEGIN DSCNT UNTIL JABBS INTXN. THE UNNECESSARY CONFUSION COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE CTLR HAD FOLLOWED STANDARD PROC AND NOT TAKEN OUR REQUEST FOR LOWER AS A CHALLENGE OF HIS KNOWLEDGE.