Congress has changed a 181-year-old rule in order to appease Muslims.
The rule banned headgear like hats being worn in the chamber, but The House decided to change that when Muslim Ilhan Omar got elected this month, The New York Post reported.
It’s taken 181 years, but the House of Representatives is finally getting around to changing a rule that bans hats on the floor.
The ban was enacted in 1837 by members who wanted to break from the hat-wearing tradition in British Parliament.
They didn’t anticipate Ilhan Omar.
The Minnesota Democrat is one of two Muslim women elected this year and she’s the first to wear a hijab.
A Democratic source said the rules will be clarified to allow religious headwear, as well as coverings for medical reasons.
“There are those kinds of policies that oftentimes get created because people who have blind spots are in positions of influence and positions of power,” Omar told The Post Thursday.
“I think it will be really exciting to see the stuff that we notice within the rules that don’t work for a modern-day America.”
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman also praised the changes. The New Jersey Democrat had a tumor successfully removed and has undergone chemotherapy since September to ensure she’s cancer free.
The treatment caused her hair to fall out. She wears a hat outside, but when she votes on the House floor she takes it off.
“I just have a bald head and I’m somewhat getting used to it hoping that it’s a very temporary thing,” Watson Coleman told The Post.
“I don’t think I would start wearing a (hat) now, but I recognize that if someone else has the same issue and wants to, they should be able to.”
The record-breaking class of women — more than 100 compared to 84 House females now in office — still represents just a fraction of the 435-person House membership.
There’s been incremental changes along the way.
When Nancy Pelosi became speaker in 2007, she installed rooms for nursing moms.
Under Speaker John Boehner’s leadership, female reps finally got a bathroom off the House floor.
And under Speaker Paul Ryan, a rule that barred bare arms on the House floor and in the Speaker’s Lobby was no longer enforced. The ban adversely affected women in sleeveless dresses during the hot DC summer.
“It’s taken us this long to get less than a quarter of the House, but it’s still better than it was,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who recalls being a congressional staffer in the 1970s and not being allowed to wear pants.
And so it begins.
— Ann Tandy Kerley (@ann_kerley) November 16, 2018
There plan is on schedule. Invade, (asylum) populate, get elected then implement shariah law.
— Elwood (@Elwood58559056) November 17, 2018
What does wearing a hat have to do with religion? I thought politicians weren’t suppose to practice their religion on the job. Will her religion have an effect on her decision making? Probably since she can’t sit in a chair without a hat.
— AmericaComesFirst (@ComesAmerica) November 16, 2018
When has the left ever give two shits about Christians and their religious rights? They can wear whatever when Christian bakers can bake cakes without hate from gay right activist. How’s that?
— 🐾Drama🐾 (@seymour_lindy) November 16, 2018
What bullshit. Stop placating Muslims.
— Mark_S_Lance (@MarkSLance2) November 16, 2018
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