🔗 Share this article

America's top court has issued an urgent ruling that temporarily allows the federal government to delay billions in funding for food benefits used by millions of low-income Americans.

The White House appealed to the country's highest court after a federal judge ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food aid, should be paid out in full to beneficiaries by Friday.

This assistance has been left in limbo by the continuing budget impasse, with the Trump administration arguing it could only pay for part of it.

The court's decision means £3.04bn can be held back for now pending further legal hearings.

Programme Impact

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

Earlier this week, a Rhode Island judge, the presiding judge, accused the government of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "16 million children are in danger of going hungry".

He ordered the administration to pay out the programme in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling came after that required the government to use contingency funds to at least partially fund the programme for November.

This court battle was triggered after the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Snap programme, announced payments would be stopped in the fall due to the lack of funding over the budget crisis.

Prior to the high court's action, the USDA said it was working to comply with the various court orders and was making efforts to doll out the full funds.

High Court's Move

Supreme Court Justice Justice Jackson issued the order late Friday, called an temporary halt, pausing the previous decision for two days while federal attorneys pursue an appeal.

The row over nutrition program money has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.

Broader Impact

Federal employees have been without pay for more than a month and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a compromise to fund the government.

Some states have used their own financial reserves to keep food benefits flowing, which are worth around six dollars to users via pre-loaded debit cards which can be redeemed in food markets.

However, certain states have said they are cannot cover the money which has been lost from the federal government.