Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the freshly announced candidate for governor of Alabama, is asking Republicans not to shift the cost of food stamps too heavily onto states, warning that the current proposal in the House’s “big, beautiful bill” could be a budget-buster.

“Just don’t bankrupt us is all I’m saying,” Tuberville said in a brief interview. “Don’t bankrupt us.”

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Tuberville has relayed his concerns to Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, as the upper chamber weighs whether to change the House provision, which penalizes states with a higher rate of payment errors.

Alabama is on the lower end of that scale, which, for the first time, would require states to pay somewhere between 5% and 25% of benefit costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But his plea suggests Tuberville is increasingly thinking about what his final years in the Senate will mean should he win the governor’s mansion next year.

He is the prohibitive favorite for the role, and so far, no major Republican competitors have come forward to challenge him.

Tuberville’s comments were couched in broad support for other SNAP provisions, including new work requirements and limitations on which immigrants qualify for benefits.

“I’m for taking care of people, but it’s like unemployment insurance — you know, sooner or later, you’ve got to go get a job,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville also expressed openness to some level of cost-sharing before again highlighting the work requirements, which would expand the pool of able-bodied adults to those under the age of 65, from 55 today.

“We can handle some, but I don’t think states should be responsible for taking care of these blue states that have everybody sitting around the house and have no work requirements,” he added.

Tuberville, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is not alone in voicing concern about the SNAP changes. Boozman told the Washington Examiner that “a lot of the conference” has reservations.

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No decision has been made about how to change the provision, Boozman said, or whether to touch it at all, but watering down the impact on states could force Republicans to search for savings elsewhere.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is also weighing how to fit elements of the farm bill into reconciliation, the budget process Republicans are using to sidestep the filibuster, given that the Senate parliamentarian could reject some House language.