2 ms·

Why did the Secretary of State recuse herself?

wahern 9y ago
It doesn't appear that she recused herself. Rather, it appears that while cabinet members are officially on the committee by operation of law, they rely on staff to do the review work and make the majority of decisions. IOW, Hillary was a member of the committee in name only. From http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-but-nobody-is-home/ http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-the... > The problem, according James Lewis, an expert on military > technology at the Center for Security and International > Studies, is that the positions needed to move cases along > have yet to be appointed. "There is no one between the > committee and the secretary," Lewis said. If you parse that (and the surrounding context) it's obvious that cabinet members don't actually do the review work themselves. Rather, the law also appoints undersecretaries and other underlings to sit on the committee. Cabinet members probably only get looped-in on rare occasion, when staff members believe an issue should be brought to the attention of a cabinet member. In the Trump administration, because there are no underlings to do the work, the committee is effectively defunct.
- wahern 9y ago
  Also, The Hill article is clearly trolling when it says, > Bill Clinton collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in > Russian speaking fees and his charitable foundation > collected millions in donations from parties interested in > the deal while Hillary Clinton presided on the Committee > on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Secretary of State doesn't "preside" over the committee. The Secretary of the Treasury is the official chairman. See https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/foreign-investment/Pages/cfius-members.aspx https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/forei...
  - jakeogh 9y ago
    "she stated she recused herself from the vote" Is this part of your first comment incorrect?
    - wahern 9y ago
      Not my comment.
      - jakeogh 9y ago
        Sorry about that. Do you think that the Secretary of State should be responsible for the actions of the people that report to her? Does a donation (before or after) from the involved parties to her husband up the responsibility bar at all?

It doesn't appear that she recused herself. Rather, it appears that while cabinet members are officially on the committee by operation of law, they rely on staff to do the review work and make the majority of decisions. IOW, Hillary was a member of the committee in name only. From http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-but-nobody-is-home/ http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-the... > The problem, according James Lewis, an expert on military > technology at the Center for Security and International > Studies, is that the positions needed to move cases along > have yet to be appointed. "There is no one between the > committee and the secretary," Lewis said. If you parse that (and the surrounding context) it's obvious that cabinet members don't actually do the review work themselves. Rather, the law also appoints undersecretaries and other underlings to sit on the committee. Cabinet members probably only get looped-in on rare occasion, when staff members believe an issue should be brought to the attention of a cabinet member. In the Trump administration, because there are no underlings to do the work, the committee is effectively defunct.

wahern 9y ago
Also, The Hill article is clearly trolling when it says, > Bill Clinton collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in > Russian speaking fees and his charitable foundation > collected millions in donations from parties interested in > the deal while Hillary Clinton presided on the Committee > on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Secretary of State doesn't "preside" over the committee. The Secretary of the Treasury is the official chairman. See https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/foreign-investment/Pages/cfius-members.aspx https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/forei...
- jakeogh 9y ago
  "she stated she recused herself from the vote" Is this part of your first comment incorrect?
  - wahern 9y ago
    Not my comment.
    - jakeogh 9y ago
      Sorry about that. Do you think that the Secretary of State should be responsible for the actions of the people that report to her? Does a donation (before or after) from the involved parties to her husband up the responsibility bar at all?