Crop Insurance is at risk of getting gutted.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., affirmed in February that he intended to see a new farm bill passed before the end of the year with bipartisan support. But the conservatives’ outrage over the debt ceiling agreement, which is expected to increase, not reduce, the number of people getting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and new demands for deep cuts in domestic spending will further test McCarthy’s command of the GOP conference heading into the farm bill debate.

That anger poses several challenges for farm bill writers: Getting Democratic support for the bill would mean SNAP can’t be cut, but leaving SNAP alone could risk inflaming conservatives further. Trying to pass a GOP-only bill wouldn't be easy either, since the GOP majority is so thin that any five Republicans could vote with Democrats to scuttle the legislation.

At the very least, McCarthy will be under pressure to allow a wide array of amendments to be considered that, if adopted, could undermine support for the legislation. That’s happened in the past: A farm bill was defeated on the House floor in 2013 after a GOP SNAP amendment drove away Democratic support.

What’s clear for now is some GOP conservatives are still determined to tighten SNAP work requirements.

“I wouldn’t categorize anything as a red line issue at this stage of the game, but we are going to try to ratchet up the work requirements every chance we get,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told Agri-Pulse. “The farm bill is one of those opportunities, and I hope we’re able to get some of those policy reforms included in the legislation.”

The debt ceiling bill did expand the work requirements to age 54 from the current maximum age of 49, but it also provided new exemptions for veterans, people who are homeless, and adults up to 24 who have left the foster-care system. Because of the exemptions, CBO estimates there will be an average of 78,000 additional people getting SNAP benefits each month as a result of the debt bill.

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, the policy director for the House Freedom Caucus and a member of the Rules Committee, which decides what amendments get debated on the floor, denounced the debt bill as a betrayal to conservatives. He told Agri-Pulse it was too early to say whether conservatives would seek cuts to SNAP in the farm bill, but he reiterated his displeasure with the outcome of the debt agreement.

“When you just bloated up SNAP while you’re pretending that you actually save taxpayers money, that’s a problem,” Roy said.

Meanwhile, 14 members of the Republican Study Committee have signed onto a budget plan, released last week, that calls for gutting not just SNAP but commodity programs and crop insurance as well.

One longtime GOP lobbyist and Capitol Hill veteran says conservative demands could make it difficult, if not impossible, for McCarthy to put a bipartisan farm bill on the House floor. If he does do that, he risks being ousted as speaker, said the lobbyist, who asked not to be identified.