The Senate dress code has changed, likely to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman, whose style typically leans toward gym shorts and hoodies — and Republicans aren’t too happy about it.
Since his election to the Senate last year, Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, frequently appears on Capitol Hill in his hoodie, basketball shorts and sneakers.
Because of the Senate dress code, he couldn’t appear on the floor to vote — but Fetterman, who suffered a stroke and battled clinical depression in the last year, had a workaround: He would vote from the doorway or the side entrance.
He doesn’t need to do that anymore.
“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement to The Hill. “I will continue to wear a suit.”
Mike Lee: ‘It’s just not that hard to wear a jacket and tie’
Before the change, lawmakers were required to wear business professional clothing on the Senate floor, which includes a coat and a tie for men.
Clint Brown, vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation and the former executive director of the Senate Steering Committee, said this change might have repercussions as future senators embrace a more casual style.
“We should hold (lawmakers) to a higher standard since we place them in an elite position. When standards are lowered to accommodate those who won’t uphold them, we lose a bit of civilization. It’s even more detrimental when standards are lowered in the institution meant to hold our civilization together,” he said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, reposted Brown’s comments and added: “In certain institutions, a consistent level of formality should always be maintained. The Senate of is one of them.”
Plus, Lee said, “It’s just not that hard to wear a jacket and tie.” As for pants, they are “a must— not optional.”
The Utah senator also referenced a viral trend — where women ask their partners how often they think about the Roman Empire, uncovering a surprising fascination some men have with the historical era — saying, “As the Roman Empire was falling, no one dared say what they were all thinking: ‘We shouldn’t have let our senators wear hoodies.’”
The Senate changed the rules for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema
This isn’t the first time the Senate has tweaked the dress code. In the past, women lawmakers were required to cover their shoulders and arms in the upper and lower chambers, as the Deseret News previously reported.
This rule was amended in the House in 2017, while the Senate changed it when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who often wears sleeveless dresses, was elected to the upper chamber in 2018.
House rules go into detail about the dress code, but the Senate’s requirements are informal, according to Axios.
Regardless, the new dress code, which doesn’t apply to staff or visitors, is set to be enforced by the Sergeant at Arms starting next week.
Is the Senate becoming too casual?
To Brown and Lee’s point, a casual style has been emerging in the Senate in recent years.
More lawmakers are opting to wear sneakers on the Hill. In fact, a bipartisan group of lawmakers launched the Congressional Sneaker Caucus in April, led by Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
“It’s a bridge back to people my age who grew up in the 1990s and also a way to connect to young people,” said Moskowitz, who has been seen wearing Nike Jordans around Capitol Hill and has nearly 150 pairs in his collection, according to Roll Call. “It’s a great bipartisan way to talk to people.”
Now that the Senate doesn’t have a strict dress code, lawmakers might take a more personalized approach to their style instead of sticking to business attire.