More than four million people have lost access to food assistance in the United States over the past nine months, following sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) introduced under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" passed in July 2025. The law tightened work requirements, reduced eligibility for refugees and asylum seekers, and shifted more administrative and benefit costs onto individual states, driving a steep nationwide fall in enrolment even as economic conditions remain largely unchanged.

Monthly SNAP participation fell from 42 million recipients in July 2024 to 37 million by April 2025, an 11% national decline, with Arizona's caseload nearly halved. More than a million children lost benefits across the 19 states surveyed, and adults must now prove 80 hours of monthly work or volunteering to qualify, a rule that particularly affects veterans, homeless people, foster youth and those aged 55 to 64. Analysts say the drop stems from policy changes, staffing shortages and heavier documentation demands rather than falling need, noting that unemployment has stayed flat while food prices continue to rise.