Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is doing away with the Senate dress code. Until now, representatives had to wear suits on Capitol Hill. The Senate will do away with this rule this week, changing a policy that has been around for decades.
"Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit," Schumer told Axios. The new policy allows Senator John Fetterman to show up to the Senate in shorts and a sweatshirt, something he has done since being diagnosed with clinical depression. For the first few weeks after he was sworn into the Senate, he followed the dress code and showed up in a suit.
This new policy will only apply to senators, according to Axios. Staff members will have to continue to comply with the old dress code and wear business attire on Capitol Hill.
The Senate has been asking for the dress code to be modified for the last five years
The Hill explains that the dress code has been described as "informal." However, in the last twenty years, it was strictly enforced, and all representatives were required to come to Capitol Hill in business attire.
There have been several attempts to change this policy. In 2017, Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar petitioned her colleagues to change the dress code, according to the book "The Firsts: the Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress," written by New York Times journalist Jennifer Steinhauer.
She specifically referred to the women's dress code since they were not allowed to show their arms in the Senate. A few months later, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan also asked for the House dress code to be relaxed. He did so after controversy erupted on social media when a female reporter complained about how she was supposed to dress on Capitol Hill. She enlisted the support of politicians like Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) who, according to CBS News, stated that she was "standing here in my professional attire, which happens to be a sleeveless dress and open-toed shoes." A short time later, changes were made to the women's dress code.
