Washington DC - The White House will send only partial food aid payments to 42 million low-income Americans, as the government shutdown crippling public services nears record length, officials told a judge Monday.

Two federal courts ruled last week that President Donald Trump's administration must use a $4.65 billion emergency fund toward the estimated $9 billion cost for November's payments before cutting off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Officials for the Agriculture Department, which oversees the program, said in a filing to a federal court in Rhode Island that they would not make up the shortfall with other funding sources, meaning "50% of eligible households' current allotments" would be disbursed.

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The government shutdown will hit its 36th day on Wednesday, which would beat the record for the longest in history.

More Americans are feeling the pain from government services being suspended as each week goes by.

At the heart of the fight is money to help Americans cover health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Those subsidies – a lifeline for more than 20 million people – are set to expire at year's end and, unless Congress acts, premiums will skyrocket when the new sign-up period opens Saturday.

But Washington's warring parties are locked in a familiar, bitter loop, as Democrats refuse to reopen the government without a deal to extend the subsidies and Trump's Republicans say they won't talk until the lights are back on.

SNAP funding, averaging around $356 per household, lapsed on Saturday, leaving one in eight Americans uncertain of how they will buy groceries.