House Republicans prepare to force their new farm bill through the Agriculture Committee this week in what is likely to be a bitter but potentially brief debate, setting up a likely showdown on the House floor in May.

The House Agriculture Committee’s proposed farm bill provides a mix of new restrictions and incentives in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that Republicans say would give beneficiaries’ new dignity by helping them find work or better-paying employment.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway kicked off a battle over the next farm bill by releasing draft legislation that offers producers improvements to major commodity programs at minimal cost, while overhauling conservation policy and making sweeping reforms to nutrition assistance.

The Republican farm bill proposal would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits by more than $20 billion over 10 years and reduce enrollment through expanded work requirements and stricter eligibility rules, according to Democratic aides.

The House Agriculture Committee’s partisan impasse over a draft farm bill deepened when the panel’s Democrats delivered a letter to Chairman MIke Conaway demanding to see the legislative text before negotiating with him further on its nutrition provisions.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway looks to quell a Democratic revolt over his draft farm bill, just a week before his panel’s planned votes on it, while ethanol producers step up their efforts to head off a cap sought by refiners on the prices of biofuel credits.