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America's top court has issued an urgent ruling that temporarily allows the Trump administration to delay billions in funding for food benefits used by countless needy U.S. residents.

The White House sought relief from the Supreme Court after a lower court ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food aid, should be distributed in full to recipients by Friday.

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

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

SNAP's Reach

This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - around one in eight - and costs almost £6.9bn a each month.

On Thursday, a federal magistrate, the presiding judge, accused the Trump administration of withholding food aid "for political reasons" and said that without the assistance "16 million children are in danger of going hungry".

He ordered the government to pay out the programme completely.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling came after that ordered the government to use reserve money to at least partially fund the assistance for last month.

This court battle was triggered after the USDA, which manages the food stamp program, stated payments would be stopped in the fall due to the budget shortfall over the budget crisis.

Prior to the high court's action, the USDA said it was attempting to follow with the multiple rulings and was making efforts to distribute the full funds.

Supreme Court Action

Supreme Court Justice Justice Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, called an administrative stay, pausing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while federal attorneys seek to overturn it.

This dispute over nutrition program money has become among the most contentious of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.

Wider Effects

Federal employees have been without pay for over 30 days and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Congress members cannot reach a compromise to fund the government.

Some states have used their own budget savings to keep food benefits flowing, 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 cannot cover the funding which has been lost from the federal government.