BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Thursday will consider a motion that would require the Trump administration to continue funding the SNAP food aid program despite the government shutdown.

The hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani comes two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can't continue funding it due to the shutdown.

The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. Word in October that it would be a Nov. 1 casualty of the shutdown sent states , food banks and SNAP recipients scrambling to figure out how to secure food. Some states said they would spend their funds to keep versions of the program going.

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