(The Center Square) – Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday a change in the U.S. Senate dress code “stinks” and is “unprecedented.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a change to the long-standing dress code on Sunday. Grassley and 45 other Republicans are urging Schumer to reinforce the dress code.
Schumer did not mention Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has worn hoodies and shorts in some press conferences.
“I’ll be wearing a suit and necktie on the Senate floor as I’ve always done and has been expected of senators for nearly 240 years,” said Grassley, who turned 90 over the weekend. “If you can’t count on the Majority Leader of the United States Senate to uphold decorum, who can you count on?”
In a letter to Schumer, the senators said the new dress code disrespects the institution they serve.
“The Senate is a place of honor and tradition, and the Senate floor is where we conduct the business of the American people,” they said in their letter to Schumer. “It is where we debate the policies which impact every American family and, when necessary, it is where we must make the gravest decision imaginable – whether to send our fellow Americans into battle to defend the freedoms we all hold dear. The world watches us on that floor and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs.”
