Is Donald Trump putting an end to daylight saving time?



Americans have been struggling through daylight saving time their entire lives, but President Donald Trump is now considering putting an end to it.

“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!! DJT,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

In a report from 2016, it was estimated that daylight saving time cost the United States more than $430 million a year.

However, there are many others who disagree with the president on the basis of public health and safety.


In a previous report on PBS, experts — like Dr. Karin Johnson from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine — claim that darker mornings are horrible for sleep. The Academy recommends permanent standard time for sunnier mornings and darker evenings.

And in the same report from PBS, Dr. David Harkey of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety explains that a darker morning commute would result in more accidents.

“I mean, I don’t care one way or another if I’m being completely honest,” Eric July tells Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” “I’m pretty sure it’s very important, them up there debating whether or not we should move the clock back a f**king hour.”

“It really pisses me off,” he continues. “Because every year this pops up, and I’m like, ‘We’re really going to do it or don’t.’”

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Trump 'fully on board' with legislation to make daylight saving time permanent, senators say



Republican Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) reintroduced legislation Wednesday that would "lock the clock" and render daylight saving time permanent, stating President-elect Donald Trump was "fully on board."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) first introduced the Sunshine Protection Act in 2018 after the Florida Legislature passed a similar bill asking Congress to end the twice-annual practice of meddling with the time. The proposal has been made again repeatedly in the years since, with some states simultaneously undertaking their own efforts to lock the clock.

While the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, which would make DST the permanent standard time, it died in the House, meaning the survival of the practice humored by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and adopted throughout the West during World War I to conserve fuel by diminishing the need for artificial light.

DST — which starts on the second Sunday in March at 2:00 a.m. and ends on the first Sunday in November at 2:00 a.m. — was foisted upon the nation at large as a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics noted that while state governments cannot independently change time zones or the duration of DST, they can exempt themselves from the practice. The only places where DST is not uniformly observed are American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and most of Arizona. There have, however, been various attempts by state lawmakers to expand that list. As of October, at least 30 states had reportedly considered or were considering DST-related legislation or resolutions.

'The Republican will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time.'

Advocates of permanent DST have suggested that it will mean brighter evenings and fewer car accidents, reduced crime, and possibly less energy consumption.

"I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year," Scott said in a statement. "It's an unnecessary, decades-old practice that's more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them."

"I'm excited to have President Trump back in the White House and fully on board to LOCK THE CLOCK so we can get this good bill passed and make this commonsense change that will simplify and benefit the lives of American families," added Scott.

While Trump is keen on eliminating time changes, he appeared to advocate for sticking with standard time when stating in a Dec. 13 post on Truth Social, "The Republican will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation."

However, he previously stated in March 2019 that "Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is OK with me!"

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is among the groups advocating for locking the clock in standard time, convinced that "DST can cause misalignment between the biological clock and environmental clock, resulting in significant health and public safety-related consequences."

According to a 2020 AASM position statement, "A change to permanent standard time is best aligned with human circadian biology and has the potential to produce beneficial effects for public health and safety."

The bill that would lock the clock in DST has significant bipartisan support and counts among its cosponsors Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) stated, "Changing the clocks twice a year creates unnecessary difficulties for many people in Mississippi, especially farmers who rely on daylight to manage their crops, livestock, and daily tasks, and permanent daylight saving time would give them more consistency throughout the year. It would also help boost the economy, improve public safety, and offer important mental health benefits."

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The Senate recently voted to make daylight saving permanent. Sleep experts warn the move could be catastrophic for health.



As Congress debates ending the biannual changing of clocks and making daylight saving time permanent, more than a dozen medical, scientific, and civic organizations warn the move could have severe ramifications for the country's health.

In a rare instance of unanimity, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved the Sunshine Protection Act, a measure that would result in Americans falling back in November 2022, springing forward in March 2023, and then never resetting their clocks again. For the measure to become law, it still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by the president.

The move has been heralded for years by many Americans weary of dark winter afternoons or, if not that, then simply the prospect of adjusting their schedules twice a year. Public opinion polling shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans would prefer making permanent the later sunsets that come with being "sprung forward."

But in a stark statement issued this week, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine assessed that Senate lawmakers' hasty decision overlooked potential health risks associated with permanent daylight saving time. In the AASM's view, seasonal time changes should be abolished in favor of a fixed national year-round time. However, the group argues standard time is what should be made permanent.

"An abundance of accumulated evidence indicates that the acute transition from standard time to daylight saving time incurs significant public health and safety risks, including increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events, mood disorders, and motor vehicle crashes," the group cautioned.

Though admitting that "chronic effects" of remaining sprung forward "have not been well studied," the group goes on to conclude in its statement that "daylight saving time is less aligned with human circadian biology."

Permanent daylight saving time, the group argued, "could result in circadian misalignment, which has been associated in some studies with increased cardiovascular disease risk, metabolic syndrome, and other health risks."

As such, "current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety," the AASM posited.

In a news release, the group noted that its statement was endorsed by more than 20 related organizations, including the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the National Safety Council, Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, the World Sleep Society — and even the National Parent Teacher Association.

On the other hand, proponents of making daylight saving time permanent argue the change would prevent traffic injuries, reduce crime, combat depression, and save energy by reducing the amount of time households use electricity for lighting, among other things.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who co-authored the Sunshine Protection Act with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said making daylight saving time permanent is long since overdue.

"No more dark afternoons in the winter," Murray said. "No more losing an hour of sleep every spring. We want more sunshine during our most productive waking hours."

"I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Americans want more sunshine and less depression — people in this country, all the way from Seattle to Miami, want the Sunshine Protection Act," she added.

(H/T: Washington Post)

'An idea who's time has come': Senate passes proposal to make daylight saving time permanent



The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent, a move that would be welcomed by many people weary of the time changes twice each year.

The proposal passed the chamber through unanimous consent.

By unanimous consent, Senate ok's bipartisan bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Will eliminate shifting the clocks twice a year. The House will still need to pass the bill to sync up
— Chad Pergram (@Chad Pergram) 1647373333

Many Americans recently had to advance their clocks by one hour to set them to daylight saving time; the biannual practice of changing the time is reversed later each year by turning the clocks back again by an hour.

But that twice-yearly time tinkering could become a thing of the past if the Sunshine Protection Act clears the House and gets signed by the President, though Americans in areas that follow this schedule would still have to endure the clock switching for awhile longer. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) said implementation would be delayed until November 2023 due to airlines and others requesting time to adjust.

Under the proposal, parts of the U.S. that currently stay on standard time throughout the year would remain on standard time, according to a Rubio press release.

Regarding the plan to enshrine daylight saving time, the Sunshine State lawmaker quipped that "this is an idea who's time has come."

Senator Rubio Speaks Following Unanimous Senate Passage of His Sunshine Protection Act www.youtube.com

The plan has bipartisan backing, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle supporting it.

"This past weekend, Americans from Washington State to Florida had to lose an hour of sleep for absolutely no reason," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, according to the New York Times. "This is a burden and a headache we don't need. Any parent who has worked so hard to get a newborn or a toddler on a regular sleeping schedule understands the absolute chaos changing our clocks creates."