Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Thursday broke with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over his decision to abolish the chamber’s dress code for members to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA).
Schumer directed the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms on Friday to abolish the centuries-old rule requiring senators to wear a suit and tie on the Senate floor. The dress code, which has been described by aides as becoming “informal” over the last 20 years, will still apply to staffers and visitors.
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The rule change is believed to have been made for Fetterman, who stopped adhering to the chamber’s dress code after his six-week hospitalization for clinical depression. Republicans have expressed outrage over the move, though Senate Democrats have largely avoided the matter, making Durbin’s comments that much more significant.
“I'm concerned about it,” Durbin told SiriusXM’s The Briefing with Steve Scully in an interview set to air Friday. “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.”
The No. 2 Senate Democrat said that he “can’t understand exactly” what Schumer was thinking in making the change, noting that he wants “to give him the benefit of the doubt until I speak to him, but I think the Senate needs to act on this.”
Members have been spotted around the Capitol in casual wear before, though this mostly occurs when a member is returning from the Senate gym or heading to the airport. Those voting in casual clothing will typically keep one foot in the cloakroom to avoid being on the Senate floor while underdressed. This is except for Fetterman, who is typically spotted around the Capitol in a baggy short-sleeved button-down shirt and matching basketball shorts.
When Schumer announced the change last Friday, he issued a boilerplate statement that made no reference to Fetterman and noted that the majority leader would “continue to wear a suit.” Most of Fetterman’s Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber responded to questions from reporters on the matter by noting that they planned to continue dressing as they had before.
While the vast majority of Senate Republicans condemned the move, some had fun with sharing their feelings.
“I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor and [Sen.] Chris Coons [D-DE] is gonna wear shorts because there's no dress code anymore,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) jokingly told reporters on Monday.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), a former college football coach, quipped about wearing a “coaching outfit” to work as a result of the new change.
“It bothers me big time,” Tuberville said, taking a serious tone. “You’ve got people walking around in shorts. That don’t fly with me.”
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For his part, Fetterman and his team have hit back at the naysayers, using the outrage to fundraise and knocking critics of his casual look.
“It’s mystifying,” Fetterman said on Tuesday of the criticism. “I mean, there’s certain much more important kinds of issues we should be addressing. Instead of, like, how if I dress like a bum.”