Susan Collins jokes she will ‘wear a biki­ni’ in response to Sen­ate dress code change

Sen. Susan Collins (R‑ME) joked on Mon­day that she planned “to wear a biki­ni” on the Sen­ate floor after Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑NY) abol­ished the busi­ness dress code for mem­bers.
Schumer direct­ed the chamber’s sergeant at arms on Fri­day to abol­ish the cen­turies-old rule requir­ing sen­a­tors to wear a suit and tie on the Sen­ate floor. The dress code, which has been described by aides as becom­ing “infor­mal” over the last 20 years, will still apply to staffers and vis­i­tors.
FOUR HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO FACE TOUGH REELECTION PROSPECTS HEADING INTO 2024
“I plan to wear a biki­ni tomor­row to the Sen­ate floor and [Sen.] Chris Coons [D‑DE] is gonna wear shorts because there’s no dress code any­more,” Collins jok­ing­ly told reporters on Mon­day.
Asked why the change both­ered her, Collins replied, “Because I think there is a cer­tain dig­ni­ty that we should be main­tain­ing in the Sen­ate, and to do away with the dress code, to me, debas­es the insti­tu­tion.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R‑Maine, speaks with reporters as she arrives for a vote on Capi­tol Hill, Tues­day, Sept. 12, 2023 in Wash­ing­ton.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

“Now, obvi­ous­ly, I’m not gonna wear a biki­ni,” she added. “But of all the issues that we have to deal with right now, rang­ing from the pos­si­bil­i­ty of the gov­ern­me …