WASHINGTON — A Rhode Island federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to find enough money to restore full funding for SNAP benefits by Friday.

In failing to fully fund the food assistance program that covers 42 million low-income Americans, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr. said the government "failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer."

The ruling Thursday afternoon comes in response to a challenge filed by cities and nonprofits after the administration said it would halt funding for the program on Nov. 1. McConnell and another federal judge in Boston ordered the government to use emergency funds to keep SNAP funding flowing, but Trump administration officials said it was only able to partially cover the payments.

McConnell's

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