496
Opinion of the Court
cretion in the implementation of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) unemployed parent program. The challenged regulation allowed States to cover or exclude from coverage persons whose unemployment resulted from participation in a labor dispute or whose conduct would disqualify them for benefits under the State's compensation law. Noting that the AFDC program involved the "concept of cooperative federalism," id., at 431, we concluded that the Secretary had the authority to "recognize some local options in determining . . . eligibility," id., at 430. Similarly, in Lukhard v. Reed, 481 U. S. 368 (1987), a plurality of this Court concluded that Virginia's policy of treating personal injury awards as income rather than resources under the AFDC program was reasonable and consistent with federal law, see id., at 377-381. The superintending federal agency, the plurality pointed out, had for many years permitted Virginia's choice while allowing other States to treat such awards as resources. Id., at 378.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, who possesses the authority to prescribe standards relevant to the issue here, § 1396a(a)(17),13 has preliminarily determined that the MCCA permits both the income-first and resources-first methods. See 66 Fed. Reg. 46763, 46767 (2001); HCFA, Chicago Regional State Letter No. 22-94, at 2, App. to Pet.
13 Blumer argues that § 1396r-5(a)(1) divests the Secretary of the authority granted under § 1396a(a)(17) to prescribe standards governing the allocation of income and resources for Medicaid purposes. See Brief for Respondent 39. Subsection (a)(1) states that the eligibility provisions of the MCCA "supersede any other provision of this subchapter (including sections 1396a(a)(17) and 1396a(f) of this title) which is inconsistent with them," but says nothing about the regulatory authority of the Secretary under § 1396a(a)(17). We have long noted Congress' delegation of extremely broad regulatory authority to the Secretary in the Medicaid area, see Schweiker v. Gray Panthers, 453 U. S. 34, 43 (1981); Batterton v. Francis, 432 U. S. 416, 425 (1977), and we will not conclude that Congress implicitly withdrew that authority here.
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