America's top court has granted an emergency order that permits for now the Trump administration to withhold billions of dollars for food benefits relied on by countless needy U.S. residents.
Administration officials appealed to the Supreme Court after a federal judge ruled that the SNAP program, also known as food aid, should be distributed completely to recipients by the end of the week.
This assistance has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the Trump administration claiming it could only pay for part of it.
The court's decision means $4bn can be temporarily withheld until more court proceedings.
Programme Impact
This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - around one in eight - and costs almost £6.9bn a month.
Earlier this week, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, alleged the government of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "millions of kids are immediately at risk of going hungry".
He ordered the administration to pay out the programme in full.
Court Proceedings
This decision followed another that ordered the government to dip into contingency funds to at least partly pay for the assistance for last month.
This court battle was triggered after the USDA, which manages the Snap programme, stated benefits would be halted in November due to the lack of funding over the budget crisis.
Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the USDA said it was working to comply with the various court orders and was taking steps to distribute the complete amount.
Supreme Court Action
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order late Friday, called an temporary halt, effectively freezing the previous decision for two days while federal attorneys seek to overturn it.
This dispute over nutrition program money has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in American history.
Wider Effects
Government workers have been unpaid for more than a month and air travel has been disrupted as Congress members cannot reach a compromise to fund the government.
Some states have drawn on their own financial reserves to keep food benefits flowing, which are worth around $6 to recipients via pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in grocery stores.
However, certain states have said they are unable to replace the funding which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.
