Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 7, 2023. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

Fetterman says GOP dress code critics worry he will ‘start break dancing’ on Senate floor

Samantha-Jo Roth September 19, 01:54 PM September 19, 01:54 PM Video Embed

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called the criticism over the Senate’s updated dress code “mystifying” on Tuesday, the day after he was allowed to wear his signature hoodies and shorts in the chamber.

The change in policy went into effect on Monday after a notice went out to the Senate sergeant-at-arms on Friday that directed her not to enforce the chamber’s dress code for its members. Fetterman has been seen wearing casual clothing after he returned to the Senate following his hospitalization for clinical depression earlier this year, and now the senator can do so when he votes.

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Fetterman, who wore a shirt and shorts, declined to walk to the Senate floor to vote on Tuesday afternoon.

“I just don’t want the world to burn down,” he said when asked by reporters why he didn’t walk into the Senate to vote. “The Republicans think I’m just going to burst in through the doors and start break dancing on the floor, you know, in shorts, and it really wasn’t a big issue.”

“It’s mystifying. I mean, there’s certainly much more important kinds of issues we should be addressing. Instead of, like, how if I dress like a bum,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said.

When asked about the conspiracy theories that the senator is actually a clone, Fetterman pulled up a picture of Homer Simpson’s doppelganger on his phone and showed it to reporters.

“It’s all truth — I’m Sen. Guy Incognito,” he said with a laugh.

Following the rule change, several Republican senators slammed the move from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to allow senators to wear whatever they want on the floor.

“It’s a terrible decision on the part of Chuck Schumer to denigrate the institution of the Senate by having people wearing hoodies and shorts,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters on Tuesday, adding that lawmakers need to “show a level of decorum associated with the place.”

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However, some senators don’t seem to have a major problem with the rule change.

“I’m not so hung up on things to think that every single day a man needs to wear a necktie,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said on Monday. “If I had my way, we would have summer casual for men, so we didn’t have the air conditioning so low and spend so much money keeping this place cold.”

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