Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is circulating a proposal to reestablish the Senate’s dress code, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) loosened over the weekend to allow senators to wear whatever they want on the Senate floor, according to senators familiar with the proposal.
One person familiar with the resolution said it would essentially return the Senate dress code to what it was last week, which required senators to wear coats and ties or business attire when on the Senate floor.
“I’ve signed it,” said one senator, who explained it would “define what the dress code is.”
Schumer’s decision appeared aimed at catering to first-term Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), whose hoodie was a signature look on the campaign trail in 2022 and who wore a dark short-sleeved collared shirt and dark shorts to work Thursday.
But the decision to loosen the dress code is getting bipartisan pushback, including from Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who says 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’s POTUS channel.
“I think the Senate needs to act on this,” Durbin said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) described the bipartisan group of senators who want to restore the Senate dress code “the coalition of the rational.”
Cornyn said a Senate resolution will allow “other senators to speak” on the need for a dress code and predicted it will come to the floor.
“It’s just ridiculous that we should have to conform the dress code to the lowest common denominator,” he said.
Any Senator that thinks this deserves any attention at all prior to passing budget and avoiding or more likely ending a shutdown is unfit for their office. Worrying over what your coworkers are wearing instead of dealing with an eminent crisis demonstrates poor judgement and an inability to properly prioritize your duties. If something like this does reach a vote before a budget is in place for the next fiscal year I would hope a majority of Senators would vote present in protest of the body’s failure to act in the best interests of the nation.
Is there much the Senate can do right now about that? Doesn’t it have to pass the House first, then it comes to them? Seems like they’re killing time until it’s their turn.
Each house of Congress passes their own set of 12 resolutions proposing appropriations for various departments of the government then representatives of each house use those resolutions as a basis to negotiate a set of joint resolutions that has to pass both houses to be sent to the President for signature or veto. The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced all 12 resolutions for consideration by the full Senate in July. Thus far the Senate has not passed any of these resolutions.
https://thehill.com/business/budget/4123988-senate-negotiators-pass-all-12-funding-bills-for-first-time-in-years/
These are our elected leaders, who could be working on reforming education, building infrastructure, improving healthcare or any number of policy goals that help the American people and better the country as a whole. And instead they’re bickering about a fucking dress code, all while the government is facing an impending shutdown.
I’ve said it before, can’t remember about what but it’s sad that it needs to be repeating.