WASHINGTON — In a decisive vote Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country, putting an end to the biannual tradition of changing clocks that has been in place across most of the United States since the 1960s.
The bill passed by a wide margin of 308-117 and now moves to the U.S. Senate for consideration. President Donald Trump is a strong supporter of the legislation. If it becomes law, clocks would no longer be turned back to standard time each November. Individual states would retain the ability to opt out of year-round daylight saving time.
The day before the House vote, lawmakers shot down a competing proposal that would have instead made standard time permanent.
The measure, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee in May by a 48-1 vote. The Senate had actually passed a similar version of the bill unanimously back in March 2022, but the House never brought it to a floor vote due to opposition at the time. Hawaii and Arizona, which do not currently observe daylight saving time, would be among states with the option to opt out under the new proposal.
Those in favor of the change argue that switching clocks twice a year leads to disrupted sleep, increased workplace injuries, and a higher number of traffic accidents. Proponents also contend that having more daylight in the evenings during winter months would boost economic activity.
Daylight saving time — the practice of moving clocks forward one hour during the warmer months — has been observed in nearly all of the United States since the 1960s. President Trump has been a vocal and persistent advocate for ending the clock-switching practice.
However, the bill still faces resistance in the Senate. U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, has been among the opponents, arguing that permanent daylight saving time would lead to unreasonably late winter sunrises and leave children heading to school in the dark across large parts of the country.
The United States previously used year-round daylight saving time during World War Two and brought it back in 1974 as an energy-saving measure. That effort proved widely unpopular, and Congress reversed course and repealed it within the same year.
