Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s controversial move to change the upper chamber’s traditional dress code to allow one entitled member to show up for work looking like a complete slob has drawn a rare bipartisan rebuke from members who disagree with the new low standards.
The New York Democrat’s loosening of the rules to accommodate Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) who clearly believes that he merits special treatment has been harshly criticized by Republicans and even some of the Pennsylvania lug’s own colleagues, with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reportedly circulating a proposal to overrule Schumer and restore the old rules regarding business attire.
The Hill reports that the West Virginia moderate is “circulating a proposal to reestablish the Senate’s dress code,” citing senators who are “familiar with the proposal”
“I’ve signed it,” one unnamed senator is quoted by the outlet, explaining that it would “define what the dress code is.”
“Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is circulating a resolution to reverse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to loosen Senate dress code, according to three senators familiar with effort. It has bipartisan support and could be filed as soon as today,” wrote Alexander Bolton, staff reporter for The Hill on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.
Sen. Joe Manchin (https://t.co/gZSmmEYXyz.) is circulating a resolution to reverse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to loosen Senate dress code, according to three senators familiar with effort. It has bipartisan support and could be filed as soon as today.
— Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) September 21, 2023
According to a Politico reporter, Manchin has told the hulking tattooed lug that he’s not down with his slovenly appearance in what has long been a formal atmosphere more focused on legislative business than spectacle.
“Manchin tells me he spoke to Fetterman today about the Senate dress code change,” the outlet’s congressional reporter Ursula Perano wrote on X. “I said ‘John, I think it’s wrong & there’s no way I can comply with that’…Wanted to tell him directly that I totally oppose it & I will do everything I can to try to hold the decorum of the Senate.”
Manchin tells me he spoke to Fetterman today about the Senate dress code change
“I said ‘John, I think it’s wrong & there’s no way I can comply with that’…Wanted to tell him directly that I totally oppose it & I will do everything I can to try to hold the decorum of the Senate”
— Ursula Perano (@UrsulaPerano) September 19, 2023
Another top Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) who serves as the Majority Whip, also expressed his dismay over Fetterman’s standard attire which was more befitting of a homeless camp than the “greatest deliberative body” in the world.
“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,” he said during a conversation on SiriusXM’s “The Briefing with Steve Scully” which will air on Friday.
“I think the Senate needs to act on this,” Senator Durbin added.
The uncouth Fetterman seems to believe that he’s special because he underwent treatment for clinical depression earlier this year and should be permitted to wear his hoodies, grungy shorts, and sneakers on the Senate floor because of his mental issues. Still, he may have let the cat out of the bag that it’s all a scam.
“If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week,” he wrote on X in an unintended admission that he could come to work wearing a suit if he really wanted to.
If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week.
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) September 20, 2023
On Thursday, Fetterman was caught on his way to an intimate meeting with possibly the only one in the building who was dressed worse than him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who didn’t have the respect to put on a suit and tie for his trip to Washington, D.C. to beg for money.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) arrives for the Senate’s closed-door meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a short-sleeve shirt and shorts. pic.twitter.com/2ZWIdGBWYn
— The Recount (@therecount) September 21, 2023
One Republican lawmaker who’s on board with Manchin’s efforts, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas described the bipartisan group as “the coalition of the rational,” saying that a Senate resolution will let “other senators to speak” about the need for proper decorum.
“It’s just ridiculous that we should have to conform the dress code to the lowest common denominator,” Cornyn said, according to The Hill.
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