U.S. Senate unanimously passes formal dress code after uproar
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.
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.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. We're facing another Republican engineered government shutdown but what's the #1 priority? Fashion.
Yes, let's enforce a classist dress code to remind everyone how classist we are. That'll fix everything.
It certainly makes it more likely for the rich to be able to go to the senate. Especially if you're an especially big and tall guy like Fetterman who would have to get all of his suits tailor-made.
It's the Senate, it's intended to be the "upper class."
The rabble is supposed to be in the House of Representatives.
The tie is the most useless piece of clothing ever invented. It serves no purpose (shut up about the original function, it no longer serves it) except to constrict your airway and dip into your spaghett.
It serves no purpose
Autoerotic asphyxiation.
What was even the original function anyway?
To please King Louis XIII.
During the 30 year war, Croatian mercenaries fought alongside the King in battle. To keep their jackets tied they used a piece of cloth which King Louis XIII took a strong liking to. He made this smart scarf a mandatory accessory for royal gatherings. Paying homage to the Croats who introduced this scarf to him, he named it ‘La Cravate’, which is still the French name for the necktie today.
Over the ages, the cravat has evolved into the modern necktie we wear today. Since their origins in military regiments, they have been a symbol of power and respect. Throughout the 19th century, they swept through the Western world. They were found in most universities, schools, sports clubs and gentlemen clubs.
The original function of any dress code is always maintained by the aristocracy and adopted by the people to put on the same airs, never the other way around.
It hides your placket. You don't want people walking around with their plackets on show do you?
That’s the first thing I check out when I pick up a nudie magazine.
Edit: I think… I have no idea what a placket is
It serves no purpose
I'd like to see you find a better way of keeping soup off your shirt.
Can't spill soup on your shirt if you aren't wearing one
Please don't take this from men. It's like 1 of the only 3 socially acceptable male fashion accessories.
Sure, cause the ex president with the most federal charges is in business attire and he is an upstanding citizen. Let’s focus on how people look instead of actual issues.
It's only ever about appearances with the repubs. They want the appearance of propriety. If they start dressing like their lessers, then The lessers might realize they are equals.
It's also why suits are so expensive. It's not like the cloth that makes a suit is any different than the cloth used to make my Slayer T-shirt.
If all the poors started wearing suits they'd just invent something else and make it cost $1mil per outfit.
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.
We all get the politicians the worst of us deserve.
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.
This is the dumbest fucking thing
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
Good thing they're focusing on the important things. Fucking Cunts!
So it's an orgy?
Tame orgy if only one opening is getting fucked.
Sure seems like they've got a lot of free time over there...
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.
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.
Well with the potential/likely shut down I'd say the house is by far the most useless.
It's cause it is.
The House is the kiddie table at a family reunion, where there is an overabundance of small, bratty kids. Half of those children want to get food and make sure everyone has enough to eat, but refuses to share their ball, their toys, or their area, and think sitting in pee is an acceptable alternative that other kids should be content with.
The other side wants to eat all the food, even food they aren't entitled to, the cake, blame the kids next to them for eating the cake, then take a shit on the plate where the cake was, and tell all the other kids it was the cake the whole time.
The parents are nearly as shitty, but most of them are in their 80s or higher and are propped up with sticks, bailing wire, and denture cream.
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.
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.
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.
Honestly something along what you're suggesting was my first thought too but then that might hurt Fetterman when he runs for reelection. He beat Dr Oz by 3%, which is rather good, but Oz was a pretty terrible candidate. He might face significantly stiffer competition next time around and he probably wants to avoid a montage of him dressed silly on some attack ad.
He also suffered a stroke right before the election and was not in the most coherent state in his speeches at the time. And the ruling is only for the Senate floor, so he should be able to campaign in his own form of style outside of that.
Parachute pants, Dante's trenchcoat, and a bolo tie, got it.
They don't want to piss off Kristen Sinema, I guess?
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.
Bravo
Surely some tailor out there can make a hoodie styled like a suit coat with a drawstring "tie".
You know this is just going to result in a pride suit right? I 100% expect him showing up in rainbows. Should bring in cat ears as well.
Or a Steelers style suit.
All it says is 3 piece suit right? Nothing about the condition of said suit? Slacks, cut off just below the front pockets. Sport jacket, sleeves ripped off. Shirt, top 3 unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up.
That, or straight pimpin'. Only 2 colors allowed, purple and leopard. Only 2 materials, silk and velour.
Bunch of worthless cunts.
Sir I must let you know that you are impugning upon the good reputation of cunts everywhere.
Theater is the only thing U.S. Senate is good at. And maybe getting bribed, but that's beside the point.
Are you trying to tell me that you don't have gold bars in your closet? Who doesn't have at least one Egyptian gold bar somewhere in their couch cushions?
Gold, ha. Apparently American politicians are awfull cheap to bribe.
Remember that one that was hiding her bribe in her bra? https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/story?id=6132629
Bobert has the theatre thing down pretty well.
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.
So glad they can decide on what to wear instead fixing things to prevent a government shut down ..... phew I was so worried about their priorities there for a moment 😕
Well technically it's the house that needs to prevent the shutdown. That's the chamber that can't pass a funding bill.
When I was in middle school (private school), the headmaster somehow manipulated the 8th grade class into voting for a dress code. I was just commenting on that to my therapist two weeks ago. Can't even remember how it came up, but talk about voting against your own interests.
WFH should have taught us that this shit doesn't matter in most scenarios. Oh well. At least they'll look nice while they accomplish fucking nothing.
the headmaster somehow manipulated the 8th grade class into voting for a dress code
Who counted the votes?
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?
Crisis averted! Good job senators! I know I'll sleep better now!
40 something and still dealing with dumb shits in office.
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.
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?
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.
That's a really good question as to what the penalties would be. Any removal wound probably be done by the Senate Sargeant at arms who is Karen Gibson and/or her staff. I agree that there should be some general minimum standard. But listing the articles of required clothing seems silly.
popularity contest for the upper class
How much did this process cost in taxpayer money?
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.
They don't care about us at all and it shows.
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.
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.
resolutions don't do anything do they?
Its the legal version of "we offer thoughts and prayers statement of the following..."
It's... honestly sad that this is what makes the news
Ever since CNN started the 24hr news cycle more and more mundane things are reported on. It's perfectly fine if you don't think this is of any value. Some people do and that's fine too.
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.