Supreme Court Rules Full Snap Food Aid Can Be Paused for Now.
The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that permits for now the federal government to withhold billions of dollars for food benefits relied on by countless needy U.S. residents.
Administration officials appealed to the country's highest court after a federal judge ruled that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food stamps, should be paid out completely to recipients by Friday.
This assistance has been caught in uncertainty by the continuing budget impasse, with the Trump administration arguing it could only afford to partially fund it.
Friday's ruling means £3.04bn can be held back for now pending further legal hearings.
SNAP's Reach
The Snap programme is used by 42 million Americans - around one in eight - and costs almost $9bn a month.
On Thursday, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, accused the Trump administration of blocking nutrition funds "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "millions of kids are in danger of facing hunger".
The judge mandated the administration to pay out the assistance in full.
Legal Background
This decision followed another that ordered the administration to use contingency funds to at least partly pay for the programme for last month.
The legal saga was spurred after the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Snap programme, stated payments would be stopped in November due to the budget shortfall over the budget crisis.
Prior to the high court's action, the Agriculture Department said it was working to comply with the multiple rulings and was taking steps to doll out the complete amount.
High Court's Move
High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the stay on Friday evening, known as an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.
This dispute over nutrition program money has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.
Broader Impact
Government workers have been unpaid for over 30 days and flight operations has been disrupted as Congress members fail to agree a compromise to pass a budget.
Some states have drawn on their own budget savings to keep food benefits flowing, which are worth around six dollars to recipients via electronic benefit cards which can be redeemed in food markets.
However, certain states have said they are unable to replace the funding which has been cut by the federal government.
