With new presidents come new priorities. The Biden administration has put states on notice: The era of flexibility in welfare is over.
President Biden pledged to expand Medicaid to able-bodied adults in every state, whether or not states chose to expand under ObamaCare. The administration has already notified states that it would no longer approve work requirements for able-bodied adults in state Medicaid programs.
And the administration has shown no interest in eliminating or modifying the federal handcuffs placed on states in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, those handcuffs continue to restrict states from removing even ineligible recipients from Medicaid or enforcing the primary work requirement in food stamps.