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

The White House sought relief from the Supreme Court after a federal judge ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food aid, should be distributed completely to recipients by Friday.

The programme has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the Trump administration claiming it could only afford to partially fund it.

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

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - approximately 12% - and requires almost £6.9bn a month.

Earlier this week, a Rhode Island judge, John McConnell, accused the government of blocking nutrition funds "due to political motives" and said that without the assistance "millions of kids are immediately at risk of going hungry".

The judge mandated the administration to fund the programme in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling followed another that required the government to use reserve money to at least partly pay for the programme for last month.

The legal saga was triggered after the USDA, which oversees the Snap programme, stated benefits would be halted in November due to the budget shortfall over the shutdown.

Prior to the high court's action, the USDA said it was attempting to follow with the various court orders and was taking steps to doll out the complete amount.

High Court's Move

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order late Friday, known as an administrative stay, pausing the lower court's ruling 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 American history.

Wider Effects

Federal employees have been unpaid for more than a month and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a compromise to pass a budget.

Several states have used their own budget savings to keep food benefits flowing, which are worth around six dollars to users via pre-loaded debit cards which can be redeemed in grocery stores.

However, certain states have said they are cannot cover the funding which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.