Late Wednesday, the Congress lowered the salary for the nation's top diplomat - Secretary of State - to keep Hillary Clinton's nomination from running afoul of the Constitution. According to an obscure Constitutional clause known as the "Emoluments Clause", if the salary of a civil position increases while a Congressperson is in office, the Congressperson cannot legally take that position.

In the past, Congress has circumvented the clause by passing a resolution lowering the salary of the office the Congressperson sought to assume, a maneuver known as the "Saxbe Fix."

Going by the clause, New York Senator Hillary Clinton might have been ineligible to serve in her newly-nominated post because she was serving in Congress when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's salary was raised to its current level of $191,300.

However, in the latest deployment of the "Saxbe Fix", the House and Senate quietly rolled the secretary of state's salary back to $186,600, its level in January 2007 when Clinton began her second Senate term. This roll back implies that Clinton would make about $4,700 less as secretary of state than Rice, her predecessor.

Even at the lower Secretary of State salary, Clinton would still get a raise over her Senate salary. At present, Senators make $169,300 and are expected to receive a raise to $174,000 next year.

Clinton, who was nominated to the post by President-elect Barack Obama earlier this month, is expected to keep her Senate seat pending confirmation by the Senate next year. In the opinion of Republicans and Democrats, there should be no serious objections to her confirmation.