People have been out for too long, federal judge John McConnell said in Rhode Island District Court, according to media reports, when the decision was published late Thursday.
This should never happen in America.
According to the judge's decision, the Department of Agriculture must resume payments to the states on Friday.
The Justice Department immediately appealed the decision, according to Axios.
The dispute concerns Snap, the federal program that pays out food stamps to the needy in the United States – a total of about 12 percent of the population. Funding for the program expired on November 1. This is because Democrats and Republicans in Congress were unable to agree on a new government budget, resulting in a government shutdown.
The shutdown began on October 1 and is the longest in US history.
