The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up a vote next week on legislation that would permanently establish daylight saving time, according to a notice released Thursday.
The bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee in May by an overwhelming 48-1 margin. A similar version of the legislation passed the U.S. Senate without opposition back in March 2022, but the House failed to act on it at that time due to pushback from opponents. The version the House will now consider includes a provision that would allow individual states to choose not to participate.
Daylight saving time — the practice of moving clocks forward one hour during the warmer months of the year — has been observed in nearly all parts of the United States since the 1960s.
Those in favor of the bill argue that the current system of switching clocks twice a year leads to disrupted sleep, higher rates of workplace injuries, and an increase in traffic accidents. Supporters also contend that having lighter evenings in the winter months would encourage more spending and economic activity.
President Donald Trump has voiced his support for ending the biannual clock change. In May, he stated it was “time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production.”
Should the bill clear the House, it would then head back to the Senate, where it faces opposition from Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, among others. Cotton has argued that making daylight saving time permanent would result in extremely late winter sunrises, leaving children across much of the country heading to school before the sun comes up.
Representative Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, has introduced this legislation repeatedly since 2018 and brought it forward again this year. The measure is especially popular in his home state, where extended evening daylight would mean more hours for activities like golf and outdoor sports.
Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, voiced his support, saying permanent daylight saving time is “better for safety and will boost New Jersey’s tourism industry. Let’s stop changing the clocks twice a year.”
The United States has tried year-round daylight saving time before — once during World War Two and again in 1974 as a way to conserve energy. However, the 1974 experiment was widely unpopular, and Congress reversed course before the year was out.
