Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, questioned why only two states should receive “special treatment” in a GOP-backed plan to reduce federal dollars for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the coming years.

As part of a major package being considered in the Senate to advance President Trump’s tax priorities, Republicans also include a major change that would require some states to cover a share of SNAP benefit costs, which are currently funded by the federal government, for the first time.

Republicans are floating changes to that plan that would create special carveouts for Alaska and Hawaii amid internal GOP pushback. But senators signal the exemption could be at risk as Democrats question “special treatment” for the states.

“On the SNAP side, as you know, they’ve shifted $64 billion to the states, of which 44 have balanced budget amendments,” Klobuchar argued on Monday. “And we tried to stop that,........

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