(CN) — A federal appeals court has sided with a group of Rhode Island churches and nonprofits in ruling that the Trump administration can be forced to pay full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history looks poised to end.

Late on Sunday, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid by the Trump administration to halt Thursday's decision by a Rhode Island judge requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to spend $4 billion set aside for other purposes to fully fund SNAP benefits, often referred to as food stamps.

The three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts, ruled against the Trump administration regarding the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

There are 14 mentions of SNAP in the sprawling 900-page document amid broader proposals about how welfare and food assistance in the U.S. should be overseen.

The ruling declines to block a lower court order requiring the administration to move funds to pay for SNAP for November.

Weeks of uncertainty during the longest government shutdown in American history have left some states struggling to issue payments to food stamp recipients.