🔗 Share this article Supreme Court Decides Complete Snap Food Benefits Can Be Put on Hold. The US Supreme Court has granted an urgent ruling that temporarily allows the Trump administration to delay billions of dollars for nutrition assistance relied on by countless needy U.S. residents. The White House appealed to the country's highest court after a federal judge ruled that the SNAP program, also known as food aid, should be paid out completely to recipients by the end of the week. This assistance has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, 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 used by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - around one in eight - and requires almost $9bn a month. On Thursday, a federal magistrate, the presiding judge, alleged the Trump administration of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "millions of kids are in danger of facing hunger". The judge mandated the government to fund the programme in full. Court Proceedings This decision followed another that required the government to dip into contingency funds to at least partly pay for the assistance for last month. The legal saga was triggered after the USDA, which oversees the food stamp program, stated benefits would be halted in November due to the budget shortfall over the shutdown. Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the USDA said it was working to comply with the various court orders and was making efforts to distribute the complete amount. High Court's Move High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the stay late Friday, known as an temporary halt, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours 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 unpaid for more than a month and flight operations has been disrupted as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a compromise to fund the government. Some states have used their own financial reserves to keep Snap payments flowing, which are worth around $6 to users via pre-loaded debit 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 federal government.