Federalism in a Time of Coronavirus: The Trump Administration, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Fraying Social Compact

Abstract

This article examines Trump administration social welfare policies in order to better understand their implications for American federalism and the evolving welfare state. We focus particularly on the use of waivers and other administrative tools to promote work requirements and benefit restrictions in the two largest means tested spending programs: Medicaid and SNAP. These policies are accelerating the fragmentation of America’s welfare state and continued movement toward variable speed, “fend for yourself” federalism. This hyper-partisan, polarized, variegated model of federalism is resulting in increasingly diverse patterns of state implementation of national policies.