The Highest Court Decides Full Snap Food Benefits Can Be Paused for Now.

America's top court has granted an emergency order that permits for now the Trump administration to withhold billions of dollars for food benefits used by millions of low-income Americans.

Administration officials sought relief from the country's highest court after a lower court ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food aid, should be paid out completely to beneficiaries by the end of the week.

This assistance has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the Trump administration arguing it could only pay for part of it.

Friday's ruling means £3.04bn can be held back for now until more court proceedings.

Programme Impact

The Snap programme is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - approximately 12% - and costs almost £6.9bn a each month.

Earlier this week, a Rhode Island judge, the presiding judge, 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".

The judge mandated the government to fund the programme completely.

Legal Background

The Thursday ruling came after that required the government to dip into reserve money to at least partially fund the programme for last month.

This court battle was triggered after the USDA, which manages the food stamp program, stated payments would be halted in November due to the lack of funding over the shutdown.

Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the Agriculture Department said it was attempting to follow with the various court orders and was making efforts to doll out the complete amount.

Supreme Court Action

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, known as an administrative stay, pausing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.

The row over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.

Wider Effects

Government workers have been unpaid for over 30 days and air travel has been disrupted as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a deal to fund the government.

Several states have drawn on their own budget savings to keep Snap payments going, which are worth around six dollars to recipients via electronic benefit cards which can be redeemed in grocery stores.

But some states have said they are unable to replace the funding which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.