WASHINGTON – The Senate is unlikely to take up a House-approved measure that would make daylight saving time permanent before the end of the year, defying President Donald Trump and disappointing Americans who want to end the twice-yearly clock change.
As daylight saving time ends early Sunday and people across much of the country set their clocks back an hour, several senators are blocking legislation that would eliminate the longstanding practice. Supporters say a permanent schedule would preserve more afternoon daylight, when Americans are generally more active. Opponents counter that residents of some states could face winter sunrises after 9 a.m.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Cotton, a member of GOP leadership, has emerged as the most prominent opponent. Earlier this month, he drew Trump’s anger after the Republican president posted Cotton’s personal cellphone number on social media and told him to “GET IT DONE!” But Cotton is not the only senator standing in the way of the bill, which would establish daylight saving time as the nation’s permanent standard.
Several other Republicans, especially those representing Northern states that would experience significantly later sunrises, have also voiced opposition.
“You’d be sending kids to school in the dark,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds.
Trump’s pressure campaign hasn’t worked
Trump has made the issue a priority, pressing Senate Republicans to approve the House bill and send it to his desk. In posts aimed at Cotton earlier this month, Trump argued that afternoon sunshine is preferable to morning light and wrote that “CRIMINALS DON’T LIKE WORKING IN THE LIGHT.”
He renewed that appeal this week on Truth Social, writing that the “United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it.”
An avid golfer, Trump has said longer evening daylight would give him more time on the course. He has also argued that changing clocks can be dangerous, particularly when “you have high and dangerous steeples to reach, like on churches and municipal buildings.”
Although many Americans now use digital clocks that adjust automatically, Trump said “nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year.”
The president’s arguments do not appear to have shifted many Senate votes. Cotton has only strengthened his opposition in response to Trump’s campaign, while several Republicans have predicted that the bill will not receive a vote during the brief period remaining when the Senate returns to Washington after the Nov. 3 midterm election.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said he understands that the House measure is a “non-starter” with Senate Republican leaders. Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio offered an even more direct assessment when asked this month whether he expected the bill to pass the Senate soon.
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“No way,” Moreno said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not publicly stated his position on the House bill, though he has voted against similar proposals in the past.
Previous laws have been repealed
During the energy crisis in the winter of 1973, Congress approved a law establishing permanent daylight saving time as a trial. Public support fell sharply, however, and the law was repealed by October, in part because of concerns about children walking to school in the dark.
More than 50 years later, fewer Americans remember that experiment. Yet, like Trump, many people still want to eliminate the twice-yearly clock change and keep more daylight in the afternoon and evening.
An AP-NORC poll conducted last year found that just 12% of American adults supported the current system, while nearly half opposed it. Organizations backing a single national time standard include the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott signed legislation as governor in 2018 that would have kept the state on daylight saving time year-round, subject to federal approval. As a senator, the Republican has continued to lead efforts to make that change.
“I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year — it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them,” Scott said.
Several Democrats are on board, as well.
“The head-spinning ritual of falling back and springing forward has a very real impact on our economy, our health, and our happiness,” said Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, when Scott introduced his own bill last year. “Let’s say goodbye to 4pm winter sunsets.”
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
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