The United States is undergoing one of the biggest changes to its social safety net in recent history, with huge numbers of people getting dropped from the government’s food assistance program. Nowhere has this been more dramatic than in Arizona. Jason DeParle, who covers poverty for The New York Times, explains why so many people are suddenly losing access to this key benefit, and what implications it could have for the rest of the country. Guest: Jason DeParle (https://www.nytimes.com/by/jason-deparle) , who writes about poverty in the United States for The New York Times. Background reading:  • Faced with piles of new paperwork, people are losing food stamps (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/us/politics/snap-food-stamps-arizona.html) . • Video: What Arizona reveals about the future of food stamps (https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010943219/what-arizona-reveals-about-the-future-of-food-stamps.html) . Photo: Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.