The White House said Tuesday it would follow through on plans to partially fund critical food aid during the government shutdown, despite President Donald Trump’s threat just hours earlier that he would withhold the federal assistance.

The president suggested he would withhold food stamp payments a day after the administration said it would pay only partial benefits this month.

Half the states and the District of Columbia sued the administration over the food-aid freeze and argued that they had a legal obligation to keep the programme running in their jurisdictions.

The ongoing government shutdown will become the longest in United States history, even as millions of Americans feel the increasingly painful consequences of the crisis on their daily lives.

With Congress now tied for its longest-ever shutdown, a small group of fed-up lawmakers in Washington are furiously trying to end the standoff as soon as this week.

As the shutdown drags on, its economic and social toll is becoming clearer.