A federal judge has said the Trump administration must keep paying food stamp benefits despite the government shutdown, siding with Democratic leaders in Arizona and 24 other states who sued the administration three days ago.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts said on Oct. 31 the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot withhold benefits when it has money in a contingency fund. But that does not mean Americans will get the full benefits of a typical month: Talwani gave the government until Nov. 1 to determine whether to pay reduced benefits using a more than $5 billion contingency fund or full benefits using those dollars and other existing funds.

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