Arizona lost 450,000 people from its food stamp program after federal changes made states financially liable for administrative errors, forcing a crisis that reveals how bureaucratic barriers—not fraud—are removing eligible families from SNAP as the rest of the nation braces for similar impacts. Arizona reduced SNAP caseloads by half after tightening paperwork requirements and cutting caseworkers by two-thirds simultaneously, creating administrative gridlock that prevented eligible people from accessing benefits they qualified for.