(MENAFN) The US Supreme Court has issued an emergency order permitting the Trump administration to temporarily withhold billions in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, affecting millions of low-income Americans.

The White House appealed after a lower court had ruled that SNAP benefits must be fully distributed by Friday. The program, which serves roughly 42 million Americans and costs nearly $9 billion per month, has been disrupted by the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Friday’s ruling allows $4 billion to be held back while further legal proceedings continue.

Earlier, Rhode Island Judge John McConnell accused the administration of withholding aid “for political reasons” and warned that without full funding, “16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry.” He initially ordered the government to release full benefits and had also instructed partial funding from contingency reserves for November.

The Supreme Court’s temporary administrative stay, issued by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, freezes the lower court ruling and gives appeals courts additional time to review the case.

Meanwhile, some states have stepped in to continue SNAP payments using their own reserves, which provide recipients roughly $6 per day via pre-loaded debit cards for grocery purchases. Other states, however, have indicated they cannot compensate for the federal shortfall.

The dispute over SNAP funding has emerged as a focal point in the longest US government shutdown in history, with federal workers unpaid and nationwide services disrupted while lawmakers remain deadlocked over a funding resolution.

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