The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Agriculture Department’s request for administrative stays on two federal court orders requiring the agency to fully pay November food stamp benefits.

The high court intervention came hours after an appellate court denied the request for a stay. It also came hours after the department notified state agencies managing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that it would pay the November benefits in full by the end of the day. The department has said November benefits would cost $8.5 billion to $9 billion.

But the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene quickly, saying that it has no “ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds — to the significant detriment of those other critical social programs whose budgets the d

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