Schumer stirs hornet’s nest with dress code change 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is facing backlash from Democratic and Republican colleagues on his decision to loosen the Senate’s dress code to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) — and senators may wind up debating the issue on the Senate floor.  

Schumer provoked an uproar in Washington this week by announcing senators could wear whatever they want on the Senate floor.  

Even Schumer’s deputy, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) balked at the decision, telling a radio show he is “concerned” and the Senate should have “standards.” 

“The senator in question from Pennsylvania is a personal friend, but I think we need to have standards when it comes to what we’re wearing on the floor of the Senate, and we’re in the process of discussing that right now as to what those standards will be,” Durbin told “The Briefing with Steve Scully” on SiriusXM in an interview scheduled to be aired Friday.  

Durbin referenced Fetterman, who this week wore a casual shirt and shorts to the Senate Democratic weekly lunch.

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is circulating a resolution among Senate colleagues to reinstate the Senate’s dress code, which would require senators to wear a coat and tie or business attire on the Senate floor — a standard that had been in place in the chamber for decades.  

“Next week, Sen. Manchin intends to file a bipartisan resolution to ensure the Senate dress code remains consistent with previous expectations,” a spokesperson for Manchin told The Hill.

Manchin told The Hill earlier in the week that he spoke with Fetterman and told his colleague the loosening of the dress code was “wrong,” and not wearing a suit and tie on the Senate floor “degrades” the chamber.  

Manchin’s resolution was the subject of table talk among senators at a bipartisan barbecue lunch hosted by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) in the Kennedy Caucus Room on Thursday.  

“I was talking to Democrats at the lunch who wanted to know if I was on the letter,” said one GOP senator. “They’re mad that Schumer did this. I don’t think they’re real happy.” 

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said Schumer should have given colleagues a chance to discuss the Senate’s dress code before changing it unilaterally.  

“I don’t like it,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think it would’ve been better if we had a discussion about it ahead of time.” 

Several Senate Republicans say they’ve already signed onto Manchin’s resolution to reverse Schumer’s loosening of the dress code.  

“I signed,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). “This is a big deal to be in the U.S. Senate. We represent 300-plus million Americans; I represent 22 million people in our state. I think it’s important to have decorum. I think that’s what people expect when they see you on the Senate floor or watch you on C-SPAN. 

“When we’re debating the biggest issues of the world, which is what we’re supposed to be doing, I think you ought to be dressed appropriately.”  

Scott said he hopes Manchin’s resolution to restore the dress code will come to the floor for a vote.  

Durbin, the No. 2-ranking member of the Democratic leadership, said “the Senate needs to act on this.”  

Asked by Scully, the SiriusXM host, why Schumer changed the rule, Durbin replied: “I can’t understand exactly what he was thinking at that point.”  

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, called the Republicans and Democrats pushing back against the dress code change “the coalition of the rational.”  

“It’s just ridiculous that we should have to conform the dress code to the lowest common denominator,” he said.   

The Washington Post, Congress’s hometown newspaper, criticized the reform in an editorial. 

“The Senate could have started with a more measured change or at least had a bit more debate before embarking on this radical shift,” the editorial board opined.  

The paper described the Senate floor as the Capitol’s “most sacred space” and the “setting for America’s most consequential debates on war and peace, freedom and slavery.” 

“The appropriate level of dignity is subjective; you know it when you see it. And when a senator comes to the floor in pickup softball gear, you don’t,” the editorial concluded.  

Fetterman was hospitalized last year after suffering a stroke during his Senate campaign and earlier this year underwent treatment for depression for six weeks at the Walter Reed Medical Center.  

But senators are skeptical that somehow wearing a coat and tie poses any special hardship on the first-term senator.  

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said it’s “just a decorum issue.” 

“It’s the United States Senate. We should show some respect for the American people and the public that we represent by showing some decorum,” he said. “If we have to have respectful dialogue on the floor, we should also have respectful dress on the floor.”  

Scott, the junior senator from Florida, earlier in the week spearheaded a letter signed by 46 Senate Republicans calling on Schumer to restore decorum and reestablish the dress code.  

“Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent,” they wrote, urging the Democratic leader to “immediately reverse this misguided action.”  

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), however, said the uproar is getting out of hand.  

“I think the Senate dress code has gotten more attention than it deserves,” he said.