BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – President Barack Obama is congratulating Louisiana’s new governor on plans to expand Medicaid – and saying John Bel Edwards’ first task is to “clean up some stuff” after his Republican predecessor.

Gov. Republican Bobby Jindal left office this week, having earlier dropped out of the GOP presidential race.

Jindal had refused to expand Medicaid, saying it would be too costly. But Obama said Edwards’ move is a “bold and wise step” and will actually help state finances.

Obama was answering questions at a high school town meeting in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Baton Rouge – before answering more electronically on Twitter – wrapping up two days of post-State of the Union travel.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.