The Highest Court Decides Full Snap Food Aid Can Be Paused for Now.
The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that temporarily allows the Trump administration to withhold billions of dollars for nutrition assistance relied on by millions of low-income Americans.
The White House sought relief from the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled that the SNAP program, called food aid, should be distributed in full to beneficiaries by the end of the week.
The programme has been caught in uncertainty by the continuing budget impasse, with the government claiming it could only afford to partially fund it.
Friday's ruling means $4bn can be held back for now until more court proceedings.
Programme Impact
This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - around one in eight - and requires almost $9bn a each month.
On Thursday, a Rhode Island judge, John McConnell, alleged the government of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "millions of kids are in danger of facing hunger".
He ordered the administration to fund the programme completely.
Court Proceedings
This decision followed another that ordered the government to dip into reserve money to at least partly pay for the assistance for last month.
The legal saga was spurred after the USDA, which manages the Snap programme, stated payments would be stopped in November due to the lack of funding over the shutdown.
Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the USDA said it was working to comply with the multiple rulings and was taking steps to distribute the complete amount.
Supreme Court Action
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, called an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while federal attorneys pursue an appeal.
The row over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in American history.
Wider Effects
Federal employees have been unpaid for over 30 days and flight operations has been disrupted as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a compromise to pass a budget.
Several states have drawn on their own budget savings to keep Snap payments going, which are worth around $6 to recipients via pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in food markets.
But some states have said they are unable to replace the money which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.
