Either way, when modern air conditioning came to the Senate in the 1950s, these suits were no longer necessary, but in 1996, Lott decided it was time to revive the long-forgotten tradition and show that "the Senate isn't just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and -- in the case of the men -- red or blue ties."
In 2004, Feinstein encouraged women to participate by giving seersucker outfits to a number of her female colleagues. "I would watch the men preening in the Senate, and I figured we should give them a little bit of a horse race," she said at the time.
The striped, wrinkled-looking suits may be an unusual look for the nation's Senate (to say nothing of pink socks), but at least senators stayed cool on another hot Washington summer day. Whether they looked cool or not perhaps deserves a motion for further debate.
ABC News' Jordan Hultine contributed to this report.
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