🔗 Share this article

America's top court has granted an urgent ruling that permits for now the federal government 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 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food stamps, should be distributed in full to recipients by Friday.

The programme has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the government arguing it could only pay for part of it.

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

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is used by 42 million Americans - approximately 12% - and costs almost £6.9bn a month.

Earlier this week, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, accused the Trump administration of withholding food aid "for political reasons" and said that without the aid "16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry".

The judge mandated the administration to pay out the assistance completely.

Court Proceedings

This decision came after that required the government to use reserve money to at least partly pay for the assistance for last month.

The legal saga was triggered after the USDA, which oversees the Snap programme, stated payments would be stopped in the fall due to the budget shortfall 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 doll out the complete amount.

Supreme Court Action

Supreme Court Justice Justice Jackson granted the stay late Friday, known as an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while federal attorneys pursue an appeal.

This dispute over food aid funding has become among the most contentious of what is now the longest government shutdown in American history.

Broader Impact

Federal employees have been without pay for more than a month and air travel has been thrown into chaos as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a compromise 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 pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in food markets.

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