Senator Robert Byrd just recently turned 91 years old and is going to continue in the upcoming Congress as President Pro-Temp of the Senate. This puts the 91yr old Byrd third in-line to the Presidency of the United States. Robert Byrd is one of the strongest constitutional advocates in Congress today and is defiantly one of the Democrats strongest constitutional advocates. Robert Byrd is showing his knowledge of the U.S Constitution by questioning whether Hillary Clinton is able to serve as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.
Byrd has his Senate office investigating whether Clinton is eligible to serve in the State Department.Article 1, Section 6 of the United States Constitution says that no member can be appointed to a civil office that benefited from a salary increase during the time that House or Senate member served. On January 4th, 2008, President Bush raised of salaries of his Cabinet Secretaries from $186,600 to $191,300 through an Executive Order to accommodate a cost of living adjustment.
With this being the case it raises a question of whether Clinton can constitutionally serve in the office. This question has been raised in the pass, and it has been resolved through what has come to be known as the "Saxbe fix". In 1973 Richard Nixon nominated Ohio Senator William Saxbe to be his Attorney General, and Nixon had increased the salaries of his cabinet members during Saxbe's term in the U.S Senate. This was solved by having Nixon lower the salaries of the cabinet members down the pre-existing levels. But Robert Byrd was a member of the Senate during that time and he was strongly against the "Saxbe fix" and still is today. More than likely this will not affect the Clinton nomination but I do expect Robert Byrd to raise the issue. For all those Clinton haters out there is gives you something to hold on to. Maybe you guys can all rally behind Senator Byrd and prevent the "Saxbe fix" from happening once again.
"Some information taken from a CNSNews Article published on Dec. 4th"
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