Daily Brew: February 3, 2026
Welcome to the Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Mandatory Medicaid work requirements are coming, what do they look like now?
- Virginia will be the fifth state to vote on a constitutional amendment repealing a same-sex marriage ban
- Trump issued nine executive orders in January, fourth-lowest monthly total in his second term so far
Mandatory Medicaid work requirements are coming, what do they look like now?
The 2025 budget reconciliation bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), established mandatory work requirements for certain able-bodied Medicaid recipients beginning in 2027. As a result, states are now required to design and implement systems to comply with the new requirements, or risk losing federal funding. Some states are also looking to establish work requirements before the 2027 deadline. Here’s a look at the national landscape of Medicaid work requirements and which states may implement them before the federal deadline.
History of Medicaid work requirements
Since 2016, 22 states have used or attempted to use waivers under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act to implement Medicaid work requirements. Section 1115 gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) authority to approve any "experimental, pilot, or demonstration project which, in the judgment of the Secretary, is likely to assist in promoting the objectives of public assistance programs in a State or States."
During the first Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved state-level work requirement policies for 13 states through Section 1115 waivers. The Biden administration revoked all of those waivers. Arkansas and Georgia are the only states that have ever implemented work requirement policies for Medicaid using this type of waiver. Arkansas implemented its work requirements before the Biden administration revoked its waiver in 2021. Georgia successfully defended its Section 1115 waiver in U.S. District Court and implemented work requirements for the program on July 1, 2023, which are still in effect.
The OBBBA mandate
The OBBBA requires all states to implement a work requirement of 80 hours per month for childless, able-bodied Medicaid recipients ages 19 to 65 with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level, by Jan. 1, 2027.
The OBBBA allows states to apply for Section 1115 waivers to implement work requirements for Medicaid ahead of the January 2027 deadline, but explicitly prohibits states from using these waivers to waive the work requirements.
Pending state actions
Seven states have active applications for Section 1115 waivers that would implement work requirements before the Dec. 31, 2026, deadline to do so. As of Jan. 23, each of these waivers was still pending at CMS. The seven states with pending waivers are: Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Utah. Some states submitted waiver requests before President Donald Trump (R) signed the OBBBA into law on July 4, while others submitted requests afterwards. All seven waivers would enact some form of Medicaid work requirements before the OBBBA deadline, but not all would meet the new federal standards. Nebraska also announced its intention to implement Medicaid work requirements ahead of schedule, using a state plan amendment instead of a waiver.
Click here to learn more about Medicaid work requirements and here to read more about the implementation of SNAP provisions from the OBBBA.
Virginia will be the fifth state to vote on a constitutional amendment repealing a same-sex marriage ban
On Nov. 3, Virginia voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would repeal part of Article I, Section 15-A of the state constitution stating that "only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid" in the state. The amendment would also repeal part of the article prohibiting the state from creating or recognizing other unions with similar rights and qualities. Voters approved the provision 57%-43% in 2006. The proposed amendment would also add new language prohibiting the state from denying marriage licenses to two adults based on sex, gender, or race.
The Virginia General Assembly voted in two successive sessions to place a proposal repealing the state’s same-sex marriage ban on the ballot. A simple majority in both chambers of the General Assembly must approve a constitutional amendment during two legislative sessions, with elections for the General Assembly between them, to put it on the ballot. The General Assembly first approved the amendment in 2025. On Jan. 14, 2026, the House of Delegates passed HJR 3 in a 67–31 vote. On Jan. 16, the Senate approved it by a vote of 26–13. Excluding members who were absent or did not vote, all Democratic legislators supported the amendment, along with five Republican state senators and three Republican state representatives, for a total of 15% of all Republican legislators.
Virginia will be the fifth state to decide on an amendment that would repeal a constitutional provision prohibiting same-sex marriage or defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The four other states that have decided these amendments, all of which voters approved, did so after two U.S. Supreme Court cases from 2013 and 2015 reshaped federal and state marriage law:
- United States v. Windsor (2013): the Court ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violated the Fifth Amendment, granting federal recognition of same-sex marriages based on state law.
- Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): the Court ruled that same-sex marriage was constitutionally protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling rendered state constitutional amendments that prohibited same-sex marriage inoperative. In 2022, the Respect for Marriage Act was enacted, which repealed DOMA.
Nevada was the first state to repeal a constitutional provision prohibiting same-sex marriage or defining marriage as between one man and one woman in 2020, followed by California, Colorado, and Hawaii in 2024.
Twenty-seven states, including Virginia, have amendments in their constitutions prohibiting same-sex marriage or defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
Between 1994 and 2012, 30 states decided on 34 measures to prohibit same-sex marriage or define marriage as between one man and one woman. Voters approved 31 and defeated three.
In 1993, the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled that denying marriage based on sex was unconstitutional. This was the first time that a state court had ruled that prohibiting same-sex marriage was discrimination. After the decision, states passed legislation or placed measures on the ballot defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), defining marriage for federal purposes as a union between one man and one woman. According to a 1996 House Judiciary Committee report, the law “was motivated by the Hawaiian lawsuit.”
Idaho was the first state to place a ballot measure related to same-sex marriage on the ballot in 1994. The measure would have established state policies around homosexuality, including providing that same-sex partnerships or marriage could not be legalized. Voters rejected this measure 50.4%-49.6%. Voters in Alaska were the first to approve a same-sex marriage ban in 1998. That year, Hawaii voters also passed an amendment that did not itself ban same-sex marriage but authorized the Legislature to do so by statute.
Twelve of the 34 ballot measures to ban same-sex marriage or define marriage as between one man and one woman were decided in 2004. Voters approved all of them.
Other states placed similar measures on the ballot in later years. In 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8 52.2%-47.8%, reversing a state court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The last states to decide on constitutional same-sex marriage bans did so in 2012, when voters in Minnesota rejected a proposed amendment and voters in North Carolina approved one.
For 2026, ballot initiatives to repeal same-sex marriage bans have been proposed in Missouri and Oregon, in addition to the constitutional amendment in Virginia.
Click here to learn more about the amendment in Virginia and here to learn more about the history of same-sex marriage ballot measures.
Trump issued nine executive orders in January, fourth-lowest monthly total in his second term so far
President Donald Trump (R) issued nine executive orders in January, bringing his total to 234 in his second term. January was tied with June 2025 for the fourth-lowest monthly executive order total from Trump’s second term so far.
Trump issued orders on foreign policy, the administrative state, tariffs, and the economy. Click here to read more about each order.
In December, Trump issued eight orders. Trump issued the most orders in January 2025, with 46. He issued the fewest in October 2025, with one.
Among all U.S. presidents, Trump has issued the 10th-most executive orders with 452 orders across his two terms in office. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued the most of all U.S. presidents with a total of 3,721 executive orders during his time in office. William Henry Harrison (Whig) issued the fewest, having issued none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: James Madison (Democratic-Republican), James Monroe (Democratic-Republican), and John Adams (Federalist).
Click here to learn more about Trump’s executive orders and actions.
