Fact Check: Can Hillary Clinton Take State Department job?
Blogs have been abuzz over whether the Constitution prevents Sen. Hillary Clinton from accepting President-elect Barack Obama's nomination to be secretary of state. History suggests there are plenty of ways around the apparent snag.
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At issue is Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which bars members of Congress from taking civil service jobs in the government for which the pay was raised during their current term in office. The provision is designed to prevent lawmakers from personally benefiting from laws they have passed - including those setting salaries for government jobs.
The Constitution says no lawmaker may be appointed to a government job, "the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased" during their term. Because pay for members of the president's Cabinet was raised this year, the provision would appear to affect Clinton.
But she's not the first member of Congress to run into the problem, and there have been fixes before.
William Saxbe, a Republican senator from Ohio, faced the same problem when President Richard Nixon nominated him to be attorney general in 1973. The office's salary had been increased a few years earlier during Saxbe's term. The solution: Congress voted to reduce the attorney general's pay, clearing the way for Saxbe to take the post. A similar fix was arranged to allow Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen to become Treasury secretary in 1993.
Clinton "can take the office, she can't take the pay," said Senate historian Don Ritchie.
Current pay for Cabinet secretaries is $191,300 a year; rank-and-file senators make $169,300.
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