"Take Back the Benefits"

Yesterday on CBS’ Face the Nation, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards proposed suspending federal healthcare benefits for members of Congress in order to spur legislative action on comprehensive insurance coverage for all U.S. citizens.

The former senator from North Carolina said he would use the power of the bully pulpit to encourage universal healthcare reform that would benefit approximately 47 million uninsured Americans.  In addition to Congress, Edwards noted that he would also strip members of his administration of their healthcare coverage unless a federal universal coverage bill is approved by July 2009. 

Apparently undaunted by the fact that Congress would have to vote for the elimination of its own medical benefits, Edwards said, “I mean, people have gotten complacent. The politicians take care of themselves, the lobbyists are everywhere, and I think we… actually need to shake the place up. And that’s what I’m talking about doing.”

If world-shaking is to become Edwards’ modus operandi, this plan just might do the trick.  And although the plot to withhold congressional health benefits is unlikely to gain much traction among politicians in Washington, with less than 50 days until the Iowa caucuses (where the popular polls show Edwards in a tight race with Senators Clinton and Obama), Edwards’s Sunday morning sound bite may just have some teeth.