(NewsNation) — Roughly 42 million Americans are waiting for a ruling in an eleventh-hour lawsuit to free up Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program funding as the government shutdown nears a month.

The USDA announced it would freeze funding for SNAP food aid starting Nov. 1, claiming "the well has run out."

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the federal judge overseeing the case, was originally expected to issue a ruling Thursday. No formal ruling has come down, but Talwani on Thursday seemed skeptical the government could cut off the funding Saturday.

"If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.”

The ruling will determine whether the government dips into emergency funds. The last

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