Donald Trump's administration has directed US states to halt full food assistance benefits for November and issue around 65% of the value of the payments following a Supreme Court pause.

In guidance issued late Saturday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said, "states must not transmit full benefit issuance" for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and must instead process reduced payments from contingency funds.

If full benefits had already been loaded onto the assistance cards, the USDA deemed this "unauthorized" and ordered states to "immediately undo any steps taken," warning of penalties like loss of federal administrative funding or liability for overpayments.

Guidance reversed over legal battle

This new guidance reverses a USDA memo issued Friday that indicated full funding to comply with a Rhode Island federal judge's order.

However, that order was paused Friday night by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The pause blocks a lower court ruling requiring the administration to shift around $4 billion (€3.46 billion) from child nutrition programs to cover the gap in SNAP funding, pending appeals.

Some states had already issued full benefits and are refusing to claw them back, vowing court action if penalized.

In one court filing, over 20 states warned that a failure to reimburse full SNAP payments risk "catastrophic operational disruptions."

Millions face budget shortages

Around 42 million low-income Americans, mostly families with children, seniors and disabled people, rely on SNAP, federally funded but state-administered.

The dispute arose from the ongoing 40-day federal government shutdown, the longest in United States history, leaving SNAP without new funding after contingency funds covered only partial November benefits.

As legal cases continue, SNAP recipients face strained food pantries, skipped medications and budget sacrifices.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar