🔗 Share this article Supreme Court Decides Full Snap Food Aid Can Be Paused for Now. The US Supreme Court has issued an urgent ruling that permits for now the Trump administration to delay billions of dollars for nutrition assistance used by countless needy U.S. residents. Administration officials appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled that the SNAP program, called food stamps, should be distributed completely to recipients by Friday. This assistance has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the government arguing it could only pay for part of it. Friday's ruling means $4bn can be temporarily withheld pending further legal hearings. SNAP's Reach The Snap programme is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - approximately 12% - and requires almost $9bn a each month. Earlier this week, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, alleged the government of withholding food aid "for political reasons" and said that without the assistance "16 million children are immediately at risk of facing hunger". He ordered the government to fund the assistance in full. Court Proceedings This decision followed another that required the government to dip into reserve money to at least partially fund the assistance for November. This court battle was triggered after the US Department of Agriculture, which manages the food stamp program, announced payments would be halted in the fall 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 distribute the complete amount. Supreme Court Action High Court Judge Justice Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, known as an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's seek to overturn it. The row over nutrition program money has become one of the bitterest of what is now the lengthiest budget standoff in US history. Wider Effects Government workers have been unpaid for more than a month and air travel has been thrown into chaos as Congress members cannot reach a compromise to fund the government. Some states have used their own financial reserves to keep Snap payments flowing, which are valued at around $6 to users via electronic benefit cards which can be redeemed in grocery stores. But some states have said they are cannot cover the money which has been lost from the federal government.