Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court after appeals court orders full payment of food stamps

The Trump administration on Friday appealed to the Supreme Court after an appeals court ordered the government to fully fund food stamps for November.

The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin taking steps to fully cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments by the end of the day Friday, CBS News reported.

The appeals court had denied the administration's request for a temporary administrative stay of a lower court order, adding that it is still considering the Justice Department's request for longer relief while it considers the appeal. 

"The core power of Congress is that of the purse, while the Executive is tasked with allocating limited resources across competing priorities," Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court that was filed shortly after the First Circuit's order was issued.

"But here, the court below took the current shutdown as effective license to declare a federal bankruptcy and appoint itself the trustee, charged with picking winners and losers among those seeking some part of the limited pool of remaining federal funds."

Earlier Friday, a USDA official notified states that the department was working to comply with the district court's order to provide full food stamp benefits for November.

Before the court order, USDA planned to freeze SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer continue the funding due to the government shutdown. About 1 in 8 Americans are on SNAP, or food assistance benefits, which costs about $8 billion a month nationally.

A total of 25 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., challenged the administration in court over the plan to pause SNAP benefits.