November 14, 2007 9:31 PM

Newsflash: The President Can Veto Congress's Salaries & Benefits

There's been something of a Elite Pundit hissy fit over John Edwards' latest ad (see here and here, for examples) saying that he will take Members of Congress's health care benefits away from them if they don't pass a universal health care plan for America. These pundits - regurgitating the canned rapid response of the Clinton campaign - say that Edwards as president wouldn't have the power to do this.

Funny, last I checked, the President has the power to sign or veto the annual Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill, which funds Members of Congress's salaries and benefits. In fact, President Clinton did just this in 2000. I have to check exactly how lawmakers' health care benefits are specifically financed, but it seems to me that, technically, a President does have the power to do what Edwards is proposing, if he kept vetoing Legislative Branch Appropriations Bills until the money from the previous year ran out. This would certainly be a blunt instrument when a scalpel would be needed - but it seems to me it technically would get the job done (again, I have to check the details a bit more here).

Frankly, this argument doesn't even really matter. Edwards is making a rhetorical argument. What's far more interesting about this is why the Clinton campaign was stupid enough to take the bait of this ad and argue against with such an inanely technocratic argument? I can't answer that question. Why the Elite Punditocracy would be so offended by Edwards proposal is, on the other hand, no surprise - the man is running a campaign specifically against Washington, and that offends a lot of people in Washington, including (or, really, especially) Elite Pundits.

UPDATE: The 2008 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill designates $237 million for "Government contributions for health, retirement, Social Security, and other applicable employee benefits" of the legislative branch. So, not to belabor the point, but it sure looks like a President Edwards could very well veto this bill to make his threat a reality. I'm not saying this would be ideal, but it sure looks like its technically possible.