Washington — A federal judge on Friday said the Trump administration is required by law to use contingency funds to pay at least partial benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the government shutdown , and gave the government until Monday to tell the court whether it plans to do so.

In a 15-page order , Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts stopped short of ordering the administration to send SNAP payments on Saturday. But she rejected the government's argument that a $5 billion contingency fund cannot be used to fund SNAP benefits during the lapse in appropriations.

"At core, Defendants' conclusion that USDA is statutorily prohibited from funding SNAP because Congress has not enacted new appropriations for t

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