Senate Formalizes Dress Code, Tosses Casual Clothing on Floor

​The attempt to relax an unwritten dress code and allow U.S. senators to wear shorts, hoodies and other informal attire while on the Senate chamber floor has been discarded like an old pair of gym socks.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle unanimously passed a resolution Sept. 27 requiring senators to wear business attire. They were spurred to action after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently informed the sergeant-at-arms to stop enforcing the dress code.

Schumer’s action was seen as reflective, at least in part, of Sen. John Fetterman’s, D-Pa., penchant for wearing gym shorts and a hoodie, according to various news outlets. Fetterman typically votes from the doorway of the party cloakroom or the side entrance in observance of the rules of decorum.

But while the Senate’s unwritten code of business attire was “strictly adhered to over the past 20 years,” according to The Hill, there have been some changes to it over time, such as in 2019 when female senators were allowed to wear sleeveless dresses.

“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 of the resolution introduced by Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah. Schumer thanked Fetterman for working with him “to come to an agreement that we all find acceptable,” as well as Manchin and Romney for their leadership.

Before the measure passed, Fetterman told CNN that he…