The Highest Court Decides Full Snap Food Benefits Can Be Paused for Now.
The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that temporarily allows the Trump administration to delay billions in funding for nutrition assistance relied on by millions of low-income Americans.
Administration officials appealed to the Supreme Court after a federal judge ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food aid, should be distributed completely to recipients by the end of the week.
The programme has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the Trump administration arguing it could only afford to partially fund it.
The court's decision means $4bn can be temporarily withheld until more court proceedings.
Programme Impact
This nutrition aid is issued by 42 million Americans - approximately 12% - and costs almost $9bn a each month.
On Thursday, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, alleged the government of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "millions of kids are immediately at risk of going hungry".
The judge mandated the government to pay out the assistance in full.
Legal Background
This decision came after that ordered the government to use contingency funds to at least partially fund the programme for last month.
The legal saga was triggered after the US Department of Agriculture, which manages 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 attempting to follow with the multiple rulings and was making efforts to doll out the complete amount.
Supreme Court Action
High Court Judge Justice Jackson granted the order late Friday, called an administrative stay, pausing the lower court's ruling for two days while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.
The row over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the lengthiest budget standoff in US history.
Wider Effects
Federal employees have been without pay for more than a month and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Democratic and Republican lawmakers cannot reach a compromise to fund the government.
Several states have drawn on their own financial reserves to keep Snap payments going, which are worth around $6 to recipients via pre-loaded debit cards which can be redeemed in grocery stores.
However, certain states have said they are cannot cover the money which has been lost from the federal government.