Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has changed the Senate’s dress code. Senators—but not staff or visitors—can now dress however they please on the Senate floor.

There are more urgent issues than whether John Fetterman can vote in his gym shorts and hoodie. But standards like dress codes matter.

What people wear reveals how they see themselves and their role. When Fetterman votes in the Senate, he represents the people of Pennsylvania — and of the U.S., too. 

Being a senator is about more than personal branding.

Almost everyone agrees there are too few standards of any kind left in America’s civic life. Our elected leaders should be trying to raise these standards, not lower them. By telling senators it’s acceptable to do the nation’s business in gym clothes, Chuck Schumer disrespects his office and the public trust it represents. 

In doing so, he diminishes us all.