--- title: Congress Rule Change Allows Religious Headwear on House Floor description: The House voted last week to permit religious headwear on the floor for the first time in 181 years. canonical: https://time.com/5494964/muslim-omar-rule-change-head/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-06T19:26:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:19:10.718Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congressional Rule Change Allows Head Scarves, Religious Headwear on House Floor og:description: It was passed the same day that the first two female Muslim congress members took office og:url: https://time.com/5494964/muslim-omar-rule-change-head/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8734b07da8a595ba/698942b7656a3fd145bd65ef/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressional Rule Change Allows Head Scarves, Religious Headwear on House Floor twitter:description: It was passed the same day that the first two female Muslim congress members took office twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8734b07da8a595ba/698942b7656a3fd145bd65ef/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressional Rule Change Allows Head Scarves, Religious Headwear on House Floor > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2cca99ce-f6b4-4964-92c4-517f0d2ba7b3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FIRSTS Ilhan Omar [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Ilhan Omar](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8i3qofna.m3u8) (2:17)  _Published 2017-09-01. Ilhan Omar is the FIRST Somali-American Muslim person to become a legislator._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 6, 2019 7:26 PM UTC  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 6, 2019 7:26 PM UTC The same day that the first two female Muslim congressional representatives in history took office, the House voted to permit religious headwear on the floor for the first time in 181 years. The change, which was passed as part of a rules package, amended an 1837 rule that was originally intended to ban representatives from wearing hats on the House Floor. After a vote of 234 to 197 on Thursday, Congress members will now be allowed to wear head coverings, such as kippahs, hijabs and turbans. Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American Muslim and refugee, became the first member of Congress to wear a religious headscarf on the floor. She celebrated the vote in a tweet. “I thank my colleagues for welcoming me, and I look forward to the day we lift the Muslim ban separating families all over the U.S. from their loved ones,” Omar wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1081270294688485376) The rule change was [proposed](http://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/) in November by Omar, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. With the change, [the rule](https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20181231/116-HRes6-SxS-U1.pdf) now “clarifies and maintains the existing prohibition on wearing hats in the Hall of the House, while making express that this prohibition does not include religious headwear.” Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim of Palestinian descent, was also sworn into Congress last week. The 116th congress is considered to be the most diverse in American history. However, Christians still continue to be [overrepresented](http://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/), relative to the American population. > [](https://twitter.com/pewresearch/status/1080963528637452289) ## Transcript People will look at you and they'll try and define you. Whether you're a woman, whether you're young. They'll try and cabin off what you are able to do. But people can only do that if you let them. And so, I always viewed my job as defining myself. If we are in a meeting, we're there for a reason. Not to just sit there and absorb. If you are only there not speaking, you kind of create the impression that you're not prepared to be there. You need to participate and you need to know what you're talking about. You can ask a man to do a job that he's never been qualified to do and he will raise his hand and say, absolutely I will do that job. Women always say I'm not sure if I'm ready yet. I need more experience. I don't necessarily know that there is anything wrong with being more cautious and careful. I mean, why have we come to decide that being brash and overly aggressive should be the way we are? But, we should also know that we're not going to feel any wiser or any more ready. In ten years than we did ten years ago. So we might as well just leap. There is a lot of perception of my gosh, this is really hard because of the gender. What are going to do about that, just not do it? If you want to do something, you just do it, and then hope that people catch up to you. Girls that are going to play in the little league, anything could happen. You could be up by ten runs and you could lose the game. So, stay focused. Make sure you play as a team. And, hopefully, you hit a home run, cuz no girl has ever hit a home run. And I'll be cheering for you. You'll never make everyone happy. So you just have to be exactly who it is that you are and at least know that you've been true to yourself. It's about attitude, aptitude and opportunity. Who knew I would be here? But it all started with folks that thought I had a good attitude. That put me in places that challenged me and then provided me with opportunities because I met and exceeded the standard. You often don't realize, people want you to succeed. And they often have very good solutions both practical and in terms of thinking of opportunities for you. And the other thing is, I think it's not too bad To have pure intentions, intensity doing, one thing or the other more frequency in every successful woman's life has his hips and flows. Know your power, know your power, your intellect, have your values in your commitment, the courage you have and don't let anybody trivialize. How you have spent your years. All of them have contributed to making a very unique and special person. Just take joy, don't let anyone discourage you from that thing that you love the most. It's more about making life Them making a living, that's what matters. 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