Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., defied a widely reported dress code standard during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, CBS News reports.
Following a speech on first responders in her district, McSally noted, "Before I yield back, I want to point out I'm standing here in my professional attire, which happens to be a sleeveless dress and open-toed shoes. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back."
Last week, a female reporter was denied entrance to the speaker's lobby, a guarded room next to the House chamber where journalists frequently go for brief interviews with legislators, due to her sleeveless dress. The dress code reportedly prohibits uncovered shoulders, as well as sneakers and open-toed shoes.
House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated after the incident that, "Members should wear appropriate business attire during all sittings of the House however brief their appearance on the floor may be," according to CSPAN.
The reported crackdown began recently, as former first lady Michelle Obama wore sleeveless dresses to many State of the Union addresses, and President Donald Trump's daughter/adviser Ivanka Trump wore a dress that exposed one shoulder to her father's joint address to Congress in February.
McSally, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, has opposed dress codes before. When she was an Air Force fighter pilot, she sued then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over a requirement that female military members wear an abaya while off-base in Saudi Arabia.
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