Majority Leader Chuck Schumer loosens Senate dress code
www.nbcnews.com
The Senate sergeant at arms and relevant congressional staff have been notified about changes to the chamber's informal dress code, which will go into effect on Monday.
  • meco03211@lemmy.world
    164·
    1 year ago

    I like that the thumbnail is John Fetterman. Like who else could this be almost explicitly aimed at.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
      55·
      1 year ago

      Until the filibuster is gone or there are 60 dem senators, a vote on universal healthcare will just be performative. You’re not going to get any Republicans voting for that.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        33·
        1 year ago

        And then? Let it be performative. Make it the top issue every single day. Make sure nothing gets done until it gets done. Tie to budget, tie it to cabinet appointments, tie it feel good bills that do nothing. A single issue that shuts the government down until resolved. Eventually it will be. The DNC keeps playing nice and keeps failing.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
          36·
          1 year ago

          Republicans: Democrats want to shut down the government??

          No. Wait. Stop.

          See, your problem is in thinking Republicans want a functioning government.

          • weedazz@lemmy.world
            9·
            1 year ago

            Some of them don’t even want a functioning world and are actively trying to end it for all of us to bring the day of the rapture closer

            • Serinus@lemmy.world
              8·
              1 year ago

              My term for those is “Left Behind Christians”. There’s a lot of them. Worse than Jihadists.

            • Imotali@lemmy.world
              5·
              1 year ago

              Seven Mountain Cult is honestly terrifying if not for the simple fact of how effectively they’ve infiltrated governance and actively campaign for the end of the world.

              • twelve20two @slrpnk.net
                2·
                1 year ago

                I’d never heard of this before and looked it up. That’s concerning. I don’t have enough time right now to look deep enough to find which politicians are a part of it, however. Are there any in the House of Representatives or the Senate you can know of?

                • Imotali@lemmy.world
                  3·
                  1 year ago

                  I don’t think there’s any members of government who are members of a church that espouses the Seven Mountain Mandate, but prettyuch the entire “Freedom Caucus” is very buddy buddy with a lot of influential people from Seven Mountain Mandate churches.

                  These churches also routinely are seen with celebrities such as Justin Bieber, the Kardashian, etc.

                  They would also tell you they’re not an apocalypse cult and they just want to “bring about the second coming”

                  But like, that’s an apocalypse cult. If you want to end the world, you’re an apocalypse cult.

          • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
            5·
            1 year ago

            Seriously, if the GOP could have excuses to call for budget cuts and ending programs, and they didn’t even have to be the ones to come up with ways to stop the government from functioning in the first place? A dream come true for them

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
          5·
          1 year ago

          I didn’t realize you were talking about Republicans at first because of how bad they’ve gotten. I don’t even question it anymore with how normalized their evil policies have gotten.

          I think they were a lot better at covering this up until 2010 when the Tea Party took hold. Since then they’ve been more and more blatant about it, culminating in totally taking off the mask in 2016. It seems to me that beforehand, the party elite carefully curated both their image and policies to have plausible deniability. With them losing control to the inmates however, the party hasn’t just thrown away their cover, they’ve decided to go for even worse policies.

          It’s like they realized their followers are a cult, and they’re curious to see if anything they do goes too far to them. It’s such a pathetic state of affairs.

        • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Almost as wild as the turkies actually voting for Christmas.

        • CoderKat@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I think most republican voters simply care more about “other people can’t get a free thing that I had to pay for” or “I don’t want universal healthcare because I’m healthy and I don’t need it”. Which are both incredibly selfish mindsets. The GOP knows about these mindsets and does everything they can to encourage them.

          I think they now are so far gone that they find it easier to convince voters by spreading propaganda than it is to win people with good policies. I think part of it is that on the policy front, there’s stiff competition. But on the identity politics front, it’s not even a competition. The GOP is massively better at propaganda and identity politics. They know they’re better at it, which is why they’ve leaned so heavily into it while also having so little else to offer. Fixing problems often gets in the way of profit, so they don’t have an incentive to actually fix many problems (at least not for normal people).

      • markr@lemmy.world
        6·
        1 year ago

        Well then perhaps the Democrats ought to engage in progressive theatrics as fascist theatrics seem to be effective.

  • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
    84·
    1 year ago

    Although senators will benefit from the change by being permitted to sport casual clothes in the Senate chamber, their staffs are still required to wear business clothes under the old dress code. People other than senators who walk on to the Senate floor will also need to wear business attire, which for men means a jacket and a tie.

    One rule for thee but not for me.

      • TechyDad@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        I can understand if they have some important meeting. If some foreign dignitary is going to be stopping by, you’ll want people to dress up. However, this should be the case for Senators and staffers. If it’s just a normal work day, there’s no reason that the staffers can’t go with casual clothing.

        • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
          3·
          1 year ago

          Yeah that’s pretty much what I mean, with this change, the senate is proclaiming that there’s no need for formal dress on a “regular day in the office” (which I 100% agree with), but to make that declaration, while still insisting your staffers stay formal is literally saying “We get to be comfortable because we’re important and rich, and you can stay uncomfortable, because who gives a shit what you want.”

  • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
    83·
    1 year ago

    Dress codes are designed to keep the “wrong people” out. Show up to a DC event and they’ll know you don’t belong by the cut of your suit.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Dress codes are designed to keep the “wrong people” out. Show up to a DC event and they’ll know you don’t belong by the cut of your suit.

      Or at least, that’s the excuse they’ll use since they can’t forbid entry due to the factors they want to use anymore.

      • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 year ago

        No that’s literally the purpose of all dress codes. If you don’t fit in you get kicked out, and the most restrictive clubs require clothing that is extremely expensive.

    • zedhank@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      Well yeah, those are for superheroes only. If you don’t have a suit you’re not a superhero.

    • CoderKat@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Not just to literally recognize people who don’t belong or to act as a financial barrier. Some of these dress codes I think are there to give a feeling of who belongs. They want people to feel stuff like, “wow, these people are so dressed up and I am never dressed up, so they must be above me”.

      Traditionally, politics has been a thing for the upper class and intertia on such things doesn’t make it easy for them to change. Dress codes in politics is just another way to make the idea of being a politician feel like something only for the upper class. Low and middle class people aren’t supposed to feel like they can be politicians. Politicians aren’t supposed to be too relatable. Even when trying to be relatable, they still often act like they are better than you.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      That would run about as well as the nancy pelosi kente cloth. The way you own republicans is by damaging their ability to gatekeep, not by just doing the thing they do but different.

      • rmuk@feddit.ukEnglish
        11·
        1 year ago

        Nonesense. Now, go and spend enough money to buy a week’s food on a long strip of ornate silk and symbolically knot it around your neck like a noose as is demanded by the customs of your corporate masters.

      • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 year ago

        Seriously. I joke that I specifically became a sysadmin because a T-shirt (and occasional polo), jeans, and sneakers or boots is already formal for me.

        … it’s only partially actually a joke.

        • winky88@startrek.websiteEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          When I was a scrub whose daily tasks involved running eternity cables, supporting warehouse machines, etc. I convinced my boss than business casual was a waste of money unless he wanted to buy my work wardrobe. This was back when I was 20ish, so 23 years ago

          • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
            1·
            1 year ago

            For real - who the hell wants to be commando-crawling through a datacenter in slacks and loafers? Total fucking nonsense.

            I went full remote in early 2018, so now you’d have to put a gun to my head to be in anything more than shorts and a wifebeater while I work. I’m popping into the office this Thursday and for a minute, I was afraid I didn’t have any long jeans left for the occasion lmao

      • TechyDad@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        When I started my current job (over 20 years ago), I dressed in dress pants, a sport jacket, tie, dress shoes, and dress shirt. Over time, I ditched the sport jacket.

        Then COVID hit and I began working from home. Now my work dress is a nice shirt (polo or solid print) and jeans or shorts (depending on the weather). No shoes needed.

        Now, I wouldn’t want to go back to the more formal dress code. Sure, it means that the dozens of cool and geeky ties that I accumulated over the years won’t be used. Still, I’d rather be comfortable and still look professional than be dressy and uncomfortable.

        • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
          2·
          1 year ago

          shoot - that’s still way more dressy than I do for my Work from home lol

          My standard outfit is just a comfy t-shirt (sometimes a tanktop if it’s >100 outside) and either basketball shorts or sweatpants depending on the weather

          • winky88@startrek.websiteEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            Anything more than a polo shirt is too fancy for me. Half the time I just stay in my jammies until I need to go somewhere or take a shower.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    54·
    1 year ago

    I’d love to see the moral scolds on the right pipe up about how scandalous this all is, right after Lauren “handy” Qbert was caught on video…

  • carl_dungeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    49·
    1 year ago

    I’m ok with this- who the fuck cares if you have a tie.

    I was all shit and tie when I started my job, and especially after Covid, things have relaxed to just about anything. Sure, I still put on a nice work polo for a client meeting or something, but fuck the suit and tie. If anything, fancy dress code made me way less productive because I was god damned uncomfortable all day. I’m a software engineer and cloud architect- wearing a dress shirt and tie is ridiculous.

    As for our lawmakers, one less thing to distract them from actually reading bills and having productive discussion is a win.

    • Fondots@lemmy.world
      16·
      1 year ago

      I have a friend who used to work for some big time government IT contractor, he was a tech guy, software engineer or something along those lines. One time they wanted him to go to some meeting, and not that he normally dresses like a slob or anything, but for the meeting he put on like a polo and khakis figuring he should look somewhat professional. They told him to go put a hoodie on because they thought whoever they were meeting with wouldn’t take him seriously as a programmer if he looked too presentable.

      • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I’m a programmer, and I like dressing up: I don’t like ties, but I like wearing slacks and a button up shirt - so long as it’s a nice fit, it doesn’t restrict your movement, and there’s a lot of things to subtly stim with - you can roll your sleeves up or rebutton the cuff, you can make your steps clack or silent depending on how you walk, etc. Plus people just treat you differently off the bat, it’s a confidence boost

        After a few years of constantly being told by everyone “you don’t have to dress up, people come here in jeans and a t-shirt” I finally gave in and took the hint

        People just expect good programmers to look aggressively casual these days

    • agent_flounderEnglish
      8·
      1 year ago

      I was all shit and tie

      I think I may have spotted your problem.

      Edit

      PS: I wear shorts or jeans and a tee every day. But oddly enough I also find suits really comfortable, as long as the shirt collar isn’t too tight. And I even kind of like dressing up. Once in a while. Maybe it’s because the laundry routine for a suit is much more of a PITA than tees.

    • Uprise42@artemis.camp
      5·
      1 year ago

      I work from home and only have a couple meetings where cameras aren’t necessary. Usually explaining how reports are calculated and such.

      I wear pj’s 90% of the time unless I need to leave my house.

      • kofe@lemmy.ml
        4·
        1 year ago

        You’re telling me you don’t just wear the PJs out? Join me my friend

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      because I was god damned uncomfortable all day. I’m a software engineer and cloud architect- wearing a dress shirt and tie is ridiculous.

      I had a role for a grand total of six weeks like that. It ended with one of those you can’t fire me because I quit kinda deals.

  • SCB@lemmy.world
    41·
    1 year ago

    I hope this goes to the House too so I can finally see Boebert in her wal mart pajama pants

  • girltwink@lemmy.world
    40·
    1 year ago

    This is part of a slow trend towards powerful people dressing casually to differentiate themselves from the less powerful people who work for them. Historically, trends like this have been set by the elite and are then emulated by people trying to convince others that they are elite. This is the beginning of the end of formal wear in the United States. Soon a suit will mean “i work at a hotel”.

    • hibsen@lemmy.world
      29·
      1 year ago

      Hence this part, perhaps?

      Although senators will benefit from the change by being permitted to sport casual clothes in the Senate chamber, their staffs are still required to wear business clothes under the old dress code. People other than senators who walk on to the Senate floor will also need to wear business attire, which for men means a jacket and a tie.

      Rules for thee, not for me.

      • clutch@lemmy.ml
        2·
        1 year ago

        Zelenskyy I guess has no other choice as his country is in war and he is the supreme commander of his forces

      • Neve8028@lemm.ee
        4·
        1 year ago

        Honestly doubt anyone will vote differently because of attire. If anything, the conservative commentators will say that the Dems are being lazy and undignified if they aren’t wearing suits. We’ll probably see most senators continuing to dress formally anyways because it’s a symbol of power.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think so. I think this time is different. At some point the leadership was no longer the trendsetters. I am not going to buy a certain shirt because I saw Biden or Bezos wearing it. I might if someone I think is actually cool did. Maybe we just aren’t some weird pyramid society anymore.