Overshadowed by the Democrats' auto bailout, the Senate "quietly approved" a resolution Wednesday evening providing Hillary a so-called Saxbe fix. Hillary's fix will provide Obama the necessary political cover to maintain the legal fiction that Hillary is not constitutionally prohibited from being the next Secretary of State:
By a voice vote, the chamber approved a resolution reducing the Secretary of State's pay to its January 2007 level.
The Constitution's Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 6, clause 2)is clear:
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
The Hillary fix may reduce the salary of Secretary of State to previous levels, but it does not and cannot change the fact that the salary was increased while Senator Clinton served in Congress. Hillary is constitutionally prohibited from serving as Secretary State until at least 2013, when her current term expires.
For more info: Obama to nominate Hillary as secretary of state Monday despite Constitutional prohibition ♦ Hillary to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state
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