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The US Supreme Court has granted an emergency order that permits for now the Trump administration to delay billions in funding for nutrition assistance used by millions of low-income Americans.

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 in full to beneficiaries by Friday.

The programme has been caught in uncertainty by the continuing budget impasse, with the government claiming it could only afford to partially fund it.

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

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - approximately 12% - and costs almost $9bn a each month.

On Thursday, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, alleged the Trump administration of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry".

He ordered the government to fund the programme in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling followed another that ordered the administration to dip into reserve money to at least partially fund the programme for last month.

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

Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the USDA said it was attempting to follow with the multiple rulings and was making efforts to distribute the complete amount.

High Court's Move

High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, called an administrative stay, pausing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.

This dispute over nutrition program money has become among the most contentious of what is now the lengthiest budget standoff in American history.

Broader Impact

Government workers have been unpaid for more than a month and flight operations has been disrupted as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a deal to pass a budget.

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

However, certain states have said they are unable to replace the money which has been cut by the federal government.