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The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that temporarily allows the federal government to delay 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 federal judge ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food aid, should be distributed completely to recipients by Friday.

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

Friday's ruling means £3.04bn can be temporarily withheld pending further legal hearings.

Programme Impact

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

On Thursday, a Rhode Island judge, John McConnell, accused the Trump administration of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "16 million children are immediately at risk of facing hunger".

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

Legal Background

The Thursday ruling came after that required the government to use contingency funds to at least partly pay for the assistance for last month.

The legal saga was spurred after the US Department of Agriculture, which manages the food stamp program, announced benefits would be halted 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 distribute the full funds.

Supreme Court Action

High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the order late Friday, called an temporary halt, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while federal attorneys pursue an appeal.

The row over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.

Wider Effects

Government workers have been unpaid for over 30 days and air travel has been thrown into chaos as Democratic and Republican lawmakers cannot reach a compromise to pass a budget.

Some states have drawn on their own financial reserves to keep food benefits flowing, which are worth around $6 to users via pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in food markets.

But some states have said they are unable to replace the funding which has been cut by the federal government.