Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) came into the U.S. Senate on Thursday wearing a cowboy hat in protest of a recent incident in which Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) wasn't allowed to vote because he was wearing sneakers.
"Nothing in the rules says I can’t wear my hat to preside on the floor," Mullin said on X, uploading a video of him from the dais.
The U.S. Senate, including Mullin, supported a 2023 measure formalizing business attire in the dress code of the Senate. It passed under unanimous consent, CNN reported at the time.
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The rule was part of objections to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), known for wearing shorts and a hoodie.
Fetterman worked out a deal where he shouts his vote from outside the Senate chambers when he's not dressed appropriately. When he appears in Congress and on the floor of the Senate, he complies with the rules, as pointed out by longtime congressional reporter Jamie Dupree.
"I didn't think hats were allowed on the Senate floor - I remember Arlen Specter once asking unanimous consent to wear one after brain surgery. But Sen. Markwayne Mullin R-OK is wearing a cowboy hat in the chair today," Dupree added.
"In 2017, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan relaxed rules on attire after dozens of congresswomen objected to a prohibition on displaying bare arms. In 2019, the attire for women in the Senate was relaxed after then-Senate Rules Committee chair Amy Klobuchar pushed for a change so women could wear sleeveless dresses," CNN recalled.
