President Donald Trump is urging the Senate to make daylight saving time permanent after the House overwhelmingly approved legislation that would end the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks.
The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act in a bipartisan 308-117 vote back in July. The bill would keep clocks one hour ahead throughout the year, giving Americans later sunsets during the winter months while eliminating the “spring forward” and “fall back” time changes.
Despite clearing the House by a wide margin, the proposal has not yet received a vote in the Senate. Trump has personally pressed senators to approve the legislation, telling reporters in late July that he hoped the upper chamber would act.
“Hopefully the Senate’s going to approve that one,” Trump said.
Unless the Senate passes the bill and Trump signs it into law, Americans will still turn their clocks back one hour on November 1. Daylight saving time began this year on March 8.
The president has argued that changing clocks twice every year is inconvenient and costly. The White House has also said making daylight saving time permanent would eliminate unnecessary disruptions for families and businesses while saving Americans hundreds of millions of dollars in lost time and productivity.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has joined the administration’s push. In a recent letter to lawmakers, Duffy asked Congress to include permanent daylight saving time in a broader transportation package that must be renewed by the end of September.
Duffy argued that providing more daylight during the hours when Americans are most frequently driving could prevent traffic deaths.
Under the Sunshine Protection Act, daylight saving time would become the national year-round standard. States that currently do not observe daylight saving time, including Hawaii and most of Arizona, could continue using permanent standard time. Other states would also be given an opportunity to opt out before the federal change takes effect.
The legislation has encountered resistance from lawmakers concerned about darker winter mornings. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) has emerged as one of its leading Republican opponents, warning that permanent daylight saving time would force millions of children to travel to school before sunrise.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) has raised similar concerns about children in northern states waiting for school buses or walking to school in the dark.
The airline industry has also requested sufficient time to prepare for any change. Airlines for America warned that suddenly moving to permanent daylight saving time could complicate international schedules, aircraft positioning and crew assignments.
Sleep researchers generally agree that eliminating the time change would reduce the short-term health effects associated with losing an hour of sleep. However, many medical groups favor permanent standard time instead of permanent daylight saving time because morning sunlight more closely aligns with the body’s natural circadian rhythm.
The United States previously experimented with permanent daylight saving time during the 1970s energy crisis. Congress reversed the policy after public support fell, largely because of concerns about children traveling to school during dark winter mornings.
Still, public frustration with changing clocks remains widespread.
The Senate unanimously passed a similar Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, but the measure stalled in the House and expired. This time, the House has acted first, leaving the bill’s future in the hands of Senate leaders.
With Trump openly supporting the proposal and lawmakers facing another clock change in November, advocates believe Congress has its strongest opportunity in years to finally “lock the clock.”
