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America's top court has issued an emergency order that temporarily allows the federal government to delay billions in funding for food benefits relied on by countless needy U.S. residents.

The White House appealed to the country's highest court after a lower court ruled that the SNAP program, called food stamps, should be paid out in full to recipients by Friday.

This assistance 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 $4bn can be held back for now until more court proceedings.

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is issued by 42 million Americans - around one in eight - and costs almost £6.9bn a each month.

Earlier this week, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, accused the government of withholding food aid "for political reasons" and said that without the aid "millions of kids are immediately at risk of going hungry".

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

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling followed another that ordered the administration to dip into contingency funds to at least partially fund the assistance for last month.

This court battle was spurred after the US Department of Agriculture, which manages the food stamp program, stated benefits would be halted in the fall due to the lack of funding over the shutdown.

Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the Agriculture Department said it was attempting to follow with the various court orders and was making efforts to doll out the complete amount.

High Court's Move

High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the stay on Friday evening, called an temporary halt, pausing the previous decision for two days while government lawyer's seek to overturn it.

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

Wider Effects

Government workers have been unpaid for over 30 days and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Congress members cannot reach a compromise to pass a budget.

Several states have used their own financial reserves to keep Snap payments going, which are valued at around six dollars to recipients via electronic benefit cards which can be redeemed in grocery stores.

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