Congress quietly obfuscating

[psionix]

I just read this on Yahoo! News. I think the real story is in red.

Clinton to earn about $4,700 less than Rice

WASHINGTON – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would make about $4,700 less as secretary of state than her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice. Congress late Wednesday lowered the salary for the nation’s top diplomat to keep Clinton’s nomination from running afoul of the Constitution.

An obscure section on compensation for public officials, the Emoluments Clause, says that no member of Congress can be appointed to a government post if that job’s pay was increased during the lawmaker’s current term.

In other words, Clinton, D-N.Y., might have been ineligible to serve in the post because she was serving in Congress when Rice’s salary was raised to its current level of $191,300. So late Wednesday, 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.

Call me crazy but the fact it was raised then lowered doesn’t undo the fact it was raised. I mean If I borrow a dollar from someone then pay it back am I really allowed re-write history by saying I never borrowed money? The way I’m reading this, Clinton–or any other current congressman/woman–is ineligible for this post.

Thoughts?