News @lemmy.world Salamendacious @lemmy.world 1y ago

U.S. Senate unanimously passes formal dress code after uproar

The Senate passed a resolution Wednesday to make business attire a requirement on the Senate floor.

The moves comes after backlash to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) directive to scuttle the chamber's informal dress code, which was widely viewed to be inspired by Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).

The bipartisan resolution requires that business attire be worn on the floor of the Senate, "which for men shall include a coat, tie, and slacks or other long pants."

The bill does not spell out what the attire includes for women.

88 comments

This is what's important to these people. They don't care about millions suffering every day, they don't care about the climate going to shit, they don't care about the economy. They're up in arms because someone might not wear a full suit in their presence. These are your "representatives".
- They didn't get into power magically. Every single one was elected. So unfortunately we get the politicians we deserve. It ticks me off that in a non presidential election it's basically impossible to get even half of eligible voters to show up at the polls. If more Americans cared then we might get more politicians who care.
  
  It's ostensibly true that they were elected by the people, but after many years of observation I have to assume that no one gets into the position to be on those ballots without an entire shit-ton of shady backroom wheeling and dealing. I assume all of the top level politicians are corrupt and we aren't given any choices for legitimately altruistic politicians.
  
  Not magically, no, but it's no secret that the more evil the candidate, the more money they get in campaign donations and behind the scenes help from billionaires who really really want them on their side when they are in office. Americans are not getting fair elections with fair information.
  
  We all get the politicians the worst of us deserve.
I'm so glad the country doesn't have any actual problems that need to be addressed so the Senate can afford to spend time on nonsense like this.
How about instead of making sure they wear the correct clothing, you make sure they do their god damn fucking job of making life better for the citizens. Because that hasn't been happening for decades now and what they wear while fucking over Americans hardly matters.
- The crappy thing is it's our job as citizens to make sure they do their job but too many Americans just don't seem to care. Getting half of eligible voters to vote in a non presidential election is nearly impossible.
Ah yes formal business attire, the universal dress code for those who accomplish nothing while looking very important. Very appropriate

Ya know gym shorts and a t-shirt besides being infinitely more practical and comfortable would lead to confusion with actual hard working Americans who don't have the luxury of getting paid to do nothing.
- Maybe we should switch to some type of sci-fi uniform.
  
  I always thought sci-fi uniforms were really cool, could you imagine congress in like, mass effect alliance uniforms? that would be cool as fuck.
  
  of course, that might also be because I find business attire to be boring as fuck. So maybe most things look cool in comparison.
  
  I might watch C-SPAN if they were all dressed like the Martians in Mars Attacks.
  
  That's gold, Jerry
Imagine a world without conservatives. Immense wastes of energy and time like this would be a thing of the past.

Conservatism is a disease in need of a cure.
- I frequently do. A world without conservatives is essentially what I envision a "heaven" to be, not that I'm religious.
If I was Fetterman, it'd now be my personal pet peeve to subvert this dress code whenever I could by showing up in the most ridiculous-but-formally-correct outfits.
- Yellow ties, mustard green coat, orange slacks?
  
  How about this beauty?
- Literal clown suit
  
  The Joker does wear a suit.
  
  "Wanna know how I got these votes?"
  
  I think the stereotypical clown suit would fit the rules. That'd be perfect.
- Dress like Saul Goodman or the Joker
  
  Dress like Saul Goodman and the Joker
- I wonder if Don Cherry's tailor does Big and Tall...
  
  Most of us Americans probably aren’t familiar with Don Cherry, I wasn’t until I lived with a Canadian and found hockey.
- I’d go full Vinny Gambini on em’.
- Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Glad they are focused on the important things.
Pass a budget. Nobody should be getting paid until then. The 20 republican extremists holding the entire country hostage should be fined exorbitantly every day they refuse to work with everyone to pass a budget.

Fuck stuff like dress codes. I could give less of a shit if everyone was naked, literally doesn't matter vs getting the government properly funded.
- The Senate isn't the chamber holding up a budget bill...
  
  It isn't, but they should be entirely focused on talking to their colleagues and making damn sure that the government gets funded before time runs out. It's extremely important we don't let this one slide.
- Please, the last thing the nation needs is Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz naked on TV.
This is going to help avert a Government shutdown and put millions of people out of work!
- I absolutely hate to defend the Senate on anything, but there's really nothing they can do about the shutdown at this point. They're ready to fund the government. The House isn't playing ball.
Who cares what people are wearing?
Seems blatantly discriminatory on the basis of gender
- Discrimination is the point of every dress code. They can't have commoners walking freely through the House of Lords, or whatever these fuckheads want to call themselves this incarnation.
  
  They should be hung from the roof upside down and naked. Instead we get to watch them bicker like children over the scraps of the government they've yet to destroy.
These people don't know what the country needs and they don't care. They spend their time and our money making it illegal for people to dress in a way that makes them unhappy. Absolutely fucking useless.
This is pure classism. They think they are better than us.
I think lawmakers getting paid during a government shutdown, free healthcare, and only work half the year is more concerning. They get more breaks than I get vacation time at work.
Literally cannot pass a budget on time for decades though.
- That would be House.
  
  Edit: changed Congress to House.
  
  The Senate is part of Congress, which also includes the House.
40 something and still dealing with dumb shits in office.
How much did this process cost in taxpayer money?
Sure seems like they've got a lot of free time over there...
This directive seemed like a trap from Schumer which invited Republicans and conservative Democrats to show off how out-of-touch they are with millennials and Gen Z. Looks like they fell for it.
Really doing important work there in the Senate. Putting on a good show of how connected and in touch they are with the people.
- Really don't indeed. I assume you couldn't force your fingers to spell as ludicrous a lie as the originally intended sarcasm.
  
  Or SwiftKey interpreted doing as don't. Either one.
They don't care about us at all and it shows.
Gotta look profesh while they're not doing their jobs. It's like they're in competition with that disaster of a House to see which chamber can be the most useless.
You mean no more antler helmets?
- The rules don't specify "no antler helmets" and if Air Bud has taught me everything it is that if it isn't banned it's legal.
Counter proposal, every member must wear formal dresses. You can have your formal attire, but you're not going to like it.
- As long as they all have to wear fancy hats like at the Kentucky Derby too. Even though I think there's nearly nothing redeeming about Lindsey Graham I imagine he'd have the fanciest hat of them all.
Crisis averted! Good job senators! I know I'll sleep better now!
Theater is the only thing U.S. Senate is good at. And maybe getting bribed, but that's beside the point.
- well, democrats can't really do much without more votes for avoid filibuster; and the only page in republican's playbook is obstruction--and they are getting rather 'good' at it, having run it for decades.
Why only men have specific requirements? This is not an attack on women but the ridiculousness of having a dress code that only specifies one gender.

I would go the malicious compliance route.

“which for men shall include a coat, tie, and slacks or other long pants.”

First up, there is no mention of a shirt...

Coat (n): A sleeved outer garment extending from the shoulders to the waist or below.

Lots of room for fun there.

Tie: (from wikkipedia) Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cravat, and knit.

Again, lots of fun.

slacks or other long pants

You get the idea by now.
- Parachute pants, Dante's trenchcoat, and a bolo tie, got it.
- Also it doesn't say where those garments have to be worn. I'm putting on my jacket as a cape, slacks on my head, and tying a tie around my dick. Technically compliant with your stupid dress code.
- “which for men shall include a coat, tie, and slacks or other long pants.”
  
  So, puffy sports team coat, bolo tie, and pants hanging below my ass. I'm compliant!
- They don't want to piss off Kristen Sinema, I guess?
And the penalty is what - a letter in your personal file? A fine (and to be paid by whom, if paid at all)? A physical removal from the space (and, again, by whom)? DJT and the modern GOP have shown that laws written concerning the presidency, congress, and the supreme court have no teeth whatsoever. Even congressional subpoenas and perjury no longer have any meaning as long as you're willing to ignore or flaunt them.

I actually agree with the desire for at least a minimum of decorum in the chambers, but the whole process is stupid to the extreme.
resolutions don't do anything do they?

Its the legal version of "we offer thoughts and prayers statement of the following..."
Kinda weird they had to pass a resolution to overrule Schumer's non-resolution decision, but they did it by unanimous consent so if Schumer (or Fetterman) disagreed they could have stopped it. If Schumer and Fetterman are on board for this, they could have just reversed the earlier decision.
- Yeah, it seems odd to me that Fetterman would have voted for it. Unanimous consent means that they said "any objections" and there weren't any. Thus there is no record of who voted for it. Maybe they planned the vote to be when some members were absent?
See, even the Senate can't function without basic regulations. Just because we used to have freedom and decorum for generations, what makes people think an entire society should continue to be free of restriction and regulation? If individuals operate outside the established norms of a community, legislation is adopted to codify those norms.
- The Senate was nonfunctional because someone wore shorts? I'm no ancap but I don't think that this fixed a problem, nonetheless the problem with the Senate.
  
  It seems my exaggerated commentary is a bit above your head. Sorry for attempting to use the internet to spur thought and discussion.
There is a bigmad Trump supporter downvoting the thread, I'm guessing most of us have them blocked already.

Everyone point & laugh at the stupid fascist symp.
- I did notice a comment I couldn't open to read for some reason, lol.

88 comments