Mandatory tie, the only thing that Democratic and Republican senators agree on

In an increasingly polarized United States, the Senate is a reflection of the bitter fights between parties. It is increasingly rare for Republican lawmakers to vote in favor of measures proposed by Democrats, and vice versa. But this week, ties and jackets achieved what neither the war in Ukraine nor the nation’s budget have been able to do: win unanimous support. On Thursday, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of a bipartisan bill that requires members to abide by a formal dress code. The bill is a withering response to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to stop enforcing an unwritten requirement to dress formally on the Senate floor.

Schumer’s decision went off like a bomb among the 100-strong Senate. There are few places in the United States where tradition carries as much weight as in the upper house of U.S. Congress. Inkwells are still placed on tables. Spittoons remain on the floor of the chamber, even though senators stopped chewing tobacco decades ago. Laptops cannot be used on the floor. And it was only four years ago that female lawmakers were given the green light to wear sleeveless dresses and open-toed shoes. Given this context, when Democratic Senator John Fetterman — who is recovering from depression — entered the Senate floor in shorts, it caused a major scandal. His choice of attire has been monopolizing debate, even more so than the threat of a government shutdown or the war in Ukraine.

Up until then, wearing formal attire on the Senate floor had been an unwritten rule, but one as respected as if it were just another amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Schumer decided to bring an end to that rule precisely because Fetterman, who is nearly two meters tall, expressed his dislike for suits.

“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor,” Schumer declared when announcing the change. The majority leader, who has spent three decades in the Upper House, specified that, personally, he would continue “to wear a suit.” As would Senator aides, but not because they wanted to. The change only applied to senators, not the rest of the staff who work in the Capitol.

The decision meant that the person responsible for ensuring the codes of conduct on the Senate floor no longer blocked senators who came rushing from the gym or the airport, sometimes dressed in sports clothes or T-shirts, to take part in a vote. Until now, senators in this predicament voted from the threshold of the chamber, with one foot inside the cloakroom.

This is despite the fact that there was no dress code for senators. There are some more precise rules in the House of Representatives, which specify, among other things, that head coverings are not allowed on the floor. Since 2019, this ban includes exceptions for medical or religious reasons, to accommodate the hijab of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Reforms promoted by senators

Instead of a formal dress code, there was only an unwritten code requiring senators to dress “appropriately.” Over time, the suit — with its connotations of authority and respectability — became the only acceptable option. This trend took off after 1979, when the sessions at the Capitol began to be broadcast live on television. The unwritten rule, however, caused friction as more women were elected to the Senate.

The year 1993 has gone down in Senate history as the “pantsuit rebellion.” That year, a hitherto unseen number of women joined the upper house: six. These senators demanded equality in gym access, the number of toilets and in the acceptance of the use of pants as part of their formal attire.

Again, it was women who promoted the next significant code change, this time in the House of Representatives. The move came in 2017 after a female journalist was stopped from entering the House chamber because she was wearing a sleeveless dress. In response to the backlash, the lower chamber’s dress code was updated to allow for sleeveless dresses and open-toed shoes.

But when it came to Schumer’s decision to relax the unwritten rules for the Senate, the change lasted barely a week. Republicans were quick to criticize the move, with nearly every senator — 47 out of 49 — signing an open letter urging Schumer to reverse the decision. “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent,” it stated. Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, a 70-year-old political veteran, joked: “I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor.”

And the backlash did not only come from Republican legislators, Democrats also protested the idea. “We need to have standards when it comes to what we’re wearing on the floor of the Senate,” Dick Durman, the chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, told The Briefing with Steve Scully. “We’re in the process of discussing that right now as to what those standards will be.”

Former astronaut Mark Kelly, a Democrat senator from Arizona, was blunt: he said that he did not like the idea of each senator dressing however they wanted in an institution responsible for approving the country’s entry into wars.

Even The Washington Post, an institution almost as venerable in the American capital as the Senate itself, criticized Schumer’s move: “Dressing formally conveys respect for the sanctity of the institution and for the real-world impact of the policies it advances,” it wrote in an editorial.

Finally, Senators Joe Manchin (Democrat, West Virginia) and Mitt Romney (Republican, Utah) presented a bipartisan resolution that, for the first time, formally imposes a dress code. It was approved unanimously on Wednesday. From now on, senators must wear “business attire” on the floor. For men, this is described as a coat, tie and long trousers. It did not offer a description for women’s “business attire.”

“Though we’ve never had an official dress code, the events over the past week have made us all feel as though formalizing one is the right path forward,” Schumer said. “I deeply appreciate Senator Fetterman working with me to come to an agreement that we all find acceptable, and of course I appreciate Sen. Manchin and Sen. Romney’s leadership on this issue.”

Fetterman, who triggered the dress code debate, has met the situation with humor. “If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week,” the Democrat wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

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