A federal judge in Rhode Island said Thursday that the Trump administration must fully cover food stamp benefits for tens of millions of Americans in November.

The order from US District Judge John McConnell comes days after the administration, in response to an earlier order from him, said it would provide only partial food stamp benefits for November by tapping into some $4.65 billion in a contingency fund maintained by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.

But McConnell said during a hastily called hearing that the government had not worked quickly enough to release the funds pursuant to the requirements of his earlier order and that the government had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it decided earlier this week that it would not provide the full benefits this month.

“People have gone without for too long,” McConnell said from the bench. “Not making payments to them for even another day is simply unacceptable.”

Under McConnell’s new ruling, the government must tap into billions of additional dollars held by the US Department of Agriculture in a separate pot of money so full SNAP benefits can be paid. The judge said those payments needed to be made to states, which administer the program, by Friday.

Nearly 42 million Americans receive food stamps. Payments are made on a staggered basis over the course of a month.