WASHINGTON (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has softened his rhetoric while he awaits a federal decision on his request to link a work requirement to benefits under the Medicaid expansion. It’s an issue that has flared up in his hotly contested re-election campaign.

The request comes in the form of a waiver that the Republican governor has requested as part of his bid to receive additional federal funds for Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor and disabled.