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The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that permits for now the federal government to delay billions of dollars for food benefits relied on 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 paid out in full to beneficiaries 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 temporarily withheld pending further legal hearings.

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is used by 42 million Americans - around one in eight - and costs almost $9bn a each month.

Earlier this week, a Rhode Island judge, John McConnell, accused the government of blocking nutrition funds "for political reasons" and said that without the assistance "16 million children are immediately at risk of facing hunger".

The judge mandated the government to pay out the assistance in full.

Court Proceedings

This decision followed another that required the administration to use contingency funds to at least partially fund the assistance for November.

The legal saga was triggered after the US Department of Agriculture, which manages the food stamp program, stated payments would be stopped in the fall due to the budget shortfall over the shutdown.

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

Supreme Court Action

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the stay late Friday, called an administrative stay, pausing the previous decision for two days while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.

This dispute over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the lengthiest budget standoff in US history.

Broader Impact

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.

Some states have used their own financial reserves to keep food benefits flowing, which are valued at around six dollars to users via electronic benefit cards which can be used in grocery stores.

However, certain states have said they are unable to replace the money which has been lost from the U.S. treasury.