Over 2 million fewer people are receiving federal food assistance since Republicans in Congress cut benefits last year.

Nationwide enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program stood at 42 million in July, when President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. As of December, enrollment had fallen to 39.5 million, according to data released last month.

“The program has changed in ways that we’re only now starting to see the impact of,” Joseph Llobrera, an expert on food assistance with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told HuffPost.

The pullback of federal food assistance could stretch family budgets amid persistent inflation that’s driven voter dissatisfaction with Republicans in special elections since last year. Republicans are widely expected to fare poorly in November’s midterm elections, and cost-of-living concerns are a key reason.

In one sense, the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, which Republicans used to offset the cost of tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, merely reverse expansions to those programs enacted by Democrats during the presidencies of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

But the changes to food assistance are part of a more drastic restructuring of the federal government’s main antihunger program. In addition to tighter eligibility requirements for people without jobs, the Trump administration has encouraged states to impose restrictions on which foods SNAP benefits can buy. The restrictions started taking effect this year, with 22 states aiming to block the purchase of candy and sugary drinks.

Possibly the biggest change of all, though, is a part of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. It requires states to shoulder a portion of the cost of SNAP benefits if they’re making too many erroneous payments. It’s something they’ve never had to do — and something they will definitely try to avoid doing to the extent possible.

HuffPost readers: Have you lost SNAP benefits as a result of recent policy changes? Tell us about it – email arthur@huffpost.com. Please include your phone number if you’re willing to be interviewed.

The impact has been especially stark in Arizona, where SNAP caseloads have fallen by more than one-third between July and December, and by nearly half as of February. It’s the steepest enrollment drop of any state, according to tracking by the Center on Budget.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security attributed the enrollment drop to its compliance with the new law, calling it “one of the most significant structural changes to federal nutrition assistance in decades.”

“Arizona, like many states, saw a swift impact due to several key provisions that became effective upon the bill’s passage,” Arizona DES spokesperson Brett Bezio told HuffPost in an email.

The new law’s provision requiring states to share the cost of benefits is based on a state’s “payment error rate,” meaning that the more a state mistakenly pays benefits, the greater share of overall benefits cost it will have to bear. Arizona estimated this year that if it didn’t lower its error rate, it could be on the hook for $300 million annually. So the state has worked quickly to trim its rolls.

“By focusing on administrative accuracy and reducing the PER now, we are safeguarding the long-term viability of SNAP for those who qualify, ensuring the program remains a stable resource for vulnerable Arizonans,” Bezio said.

Erroneous payments aren’t the same as fraud, though they can be caused by it. Errors can include overpayments or underpayments, and can be caused by mistakes on applications or by administrative staff. Llobrera said there’s no penalty for cutting someone off in error or delaying the approval of an eligible person’s application.

“States have been given very, very little time to make the adjustments that would allow them to bring down their error rate in a way that doesn’t constrain access to the program,” Llobrera said.

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