From the beginning, when most senators wore breeches (knee-length pants with silk stockings), to the present day, when nearly half the senators are protesting that one senator wants to wear shorts (knee-length shorts, typically without socks), the arc of American history has brought us here.
The House and the Senate have a lengthy and growing list of things to do, and this dress code flap looks like a diversion from that.
To avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, House Republicans are too divided to pass a spending package that would serve as a starting point for negotiations with Democrats.
No one in the Senate has yet worked out how to convince Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama to stop blocking all high-level Pentagon nominations.Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman, who is more comfortable in shorts and a hoodie, released a press release in which he offered to wear a suit if Republicans agreed to pass a budget bill, highlighting the disparity between the significance of concerns of state and matters of style.
There was a time, oh, 30 years ago when…
Former Maryland Democrat Senator Barbara Mikulski, who stands at just 4 feet, 11 inches tall, started the “pantsuit rebellion” in 1993 when she boldly abandoned skirts and dresses in favour of pants on the Senate floor after confirming with the parliamentarian that there was no written dress code.
Former Senator Mikulski discussed this with then-AWN reporter Dana Bash in 2010.
“I’m most comfortable in slacks,” Mikulski explained when asked about the reaction she received for entering the Senate “in trousers.”
Isn’t there something more pressing?
Now that the 6-foot-8-inch Fetterman is wearing shorts, he’s making waves.
Asking, “Aren’t there more important things we should be talking about rather than if I dress like a slob?” Asked Fetterman on MSNBC.
There has been grumbling from both Republicans and Democrats (West Virginia’s Joe Manchin). Republican Susan Collins of Maine joked that she might show up to work in a bikini “because there’s no dress code anymore.”
The Senate likes to think of itself as the most powerful legislative body in the world, but it has all the hallmarks of the most stuffy institution on the planet.
No serving senator has ever been caught on camera spitting into the spittoons that are strategically placed around the Senate chamber floor. Each workstation has an inkwell. Computers of any kind are banned.
But Fetterman has made his name as an alternative to the traditional political establishment.
He had a stroke just before the election, but his charisma helped get him elected. Even when he donned suits, he struggled to fit in at the Senate. After seeking treatment for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, Fetterman is back to dressing the way he likes to dress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has instructed the Senate sergeant-at-arms to avoid enforcing the informal dress code so that the person elected by Pennsylvanians can vote from the floor instead of the cloakroom.
The argument against wearing shorts
Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott wrote an impassioned letter to Schumer (signed by 45 of his colleagues) protesting the loosening of this unofficial rule.
Senators in favour of trousers said, “The world watches us on that floor and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs.” They went on to say that the Senate is where the most momentous decisions are made, including whether or not to put American service people into harm’s way.
Note: Most US military actions since 9/11 have been done on the basis of a 2001 vote authorising the use of military force against pretty much anyone the US government views to be a danger.
Perhaps the Senate should discuss the discrepancy between the number of votes taken over the past 20 years to put US service personnel into harm’s way and the number of service members actually sent into harm’s way.
The case of Ted Cruz
Senator Fetterman is not the first to be caught casting a ballot in shorts. That was Texas Senator Ted Cruz in August of 2022, fresh from a game of basketball with some sweating aides.
Cruz is one of the senators who agreed with Scott’s dress code demand, despite images showing him sweating outside the Senate chamber.
Surely there have been breeches in the past, perhaps on a weekend with votes when a senator or two walked in straight from the golf course.
According to a report written by the Senate historian’s office, senators stopped wearing breeches around the time of the 1820s in an effort “to distance themselves from signs of elitism.”
The height of indecency breach
Senators like Massachusetts’ Charles Sumner shook things up by wearing brightly coloured trousers during a time when trousers were traditionally worn with a frock coat.
By the way, the pinnacle of Senate corruption involved Sumner. When he insulted a South Carolina senator in the years before the Civil War, the abolitionist senator nearly died from the caning he received on the Senate floor.
An increase in the popularity of ‘lounge suits’ among senators
The frock coat’s time had come and gone. The lounge suit, which the historian claims is more akin to the business suit of today, gradually supplanted them.
The email also recounts an incident from the late 1970s, when President Jimmy Carter ordered all federal buildings to reduce their thermostat settings to 78 degrees Fahrenheit during an energy crisis. A motion to remove the need for House members to wear jackets and ties was shot down.
Missourians cover their shoulders in public but U.S. senators do not.
This year, legislators in Missouri passed a legislation mandating the covering of shoulders in public.
The US Senate has taken the other tack, which must come as a relief to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona who is known for her penchant for bright, often sleeveless clothing.
This is not the first instance of a politically motivated dress code.
When President Bill Clinton was in office, he allowed his staff to dress casually in the West Wing, while President George W. Bush insisted that everyone work in a suit and tie.
Recent presidential aides have been known to show up to work on weekends wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
Totally Honest
Never in a million years would you see me in shorts at work. By no means.
I have many neckties that haven’t been worn in years, despite the fact that I wear a suit or sport coat very often. It’s true that I like to pair pants with a dress shirt.
Journalists covering the White House or Capitol Hill wear similar uniforms. It’s acceptable for photojournalists to be less formal.
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, has enacted the nicest dress code I’ve ever seen, consisting of just two words: “Dress appropriately.” That, however, offers individuals the ability to figure things out on their own.