'Fetterman Rule' reversed, Senate votes to revive dress code after worldwide mockery

The Senate passed a bipartisan resolution to bring back to the formal dress code in the upper chamber after the requirements were controversially dropped for senators only, not for staff members.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had quietly ordered the Senate dress code no longer to be enforced, which was then nicknamed the "Fetterman Rule."

“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit,” Schumer said in a statement to Axios at the time.

This meant Senator John Fetterman would no longer be forced to vote from the doorway of the Senate cloakroom whenever he appeared in his usual sweat pants, shorts, or hooded sweatshirt combos.

However, nearly every Republican senator signed a letter in opposition to the change, the New York Post reported, with Maine's Susan Collins joking she might show up to work in a bikini.

The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, even voiced his disagreement, along with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who eventually sponsored the dress code's return with Mitt Romney.

The dress code will require men to wear “a coat, tie and slacks or other longer pants," which means it may be back to the cloakroom for Fetterman.

Manchin reportedly reached out to Fetterman to say, “'John, I think it’s wrong & there's no way I can comply with that’ … [I] 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.”

Schumer added that though "we’ve never had an official dress code, the events over the past week have made us all feel as though formalizing one is the right path forward."

"I deeply appreciate Senator Fetterman working with me to come to an agreement that we all find acceptable, and of course I appreciate Sen. Manchin and Sen. Romney's leadership on this issue."

Romney said in a statement that the Senate should "demonstrate a high level of reverence for the institution." He added that "attire is one of the most basic expressions of that respect."

“I’m proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to call for a return to a level of dress becoming of the Senate,” Romney continued.

In response to the resolution, Fetterman posted a photo of actor Kevin James shrugging to his X account.

Fetterman promised he would wear a suit if appearing on the Senate floor but otherwise will vote from the depths of the cloakroom once more.

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