Trump urges Senate to approve Sunshine Protection Act for permanent daylight saving time
President Donald Trump and several senators are pressing the Senate to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight-saving time year-round after the House approved the measure.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would eliminate the twice-yearly clock change and keep daylight-saving time in effect permanently. The measure now awaits action by the Senate.
President Donald Trump posted on his social-media platform that the change is “foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly,” and urged Republican senators to release any holds on the legislation, adding that it is an issue that could unite members of both parties.
Senator Rick Scott, a leading advocate of the proposal, said the shift would give “more sun later in the afternoon and evening in the winter” for states such as Florida. Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luján noted that many Americans are “tired of changing those clocks day after day,” and cited health concerns raised by neurologists about the biannual time shift. Senator Tommy Tuberville linked the bill’s importance to the administration’s broader legislative agenda.
Opposition to the bill includes concerns from legislators in New England and states with multiple time zones. Senator Peter Welch warned that permanent daylight-saving time could result in darker mornings for schoolchildren, while Senator Todd Young highlighted disagreements within states like Indiana about the appropriate time standard.
Historical context shows that a similar year-round daylight-saving experiment was briefly enacted in the 1970s but was repealed after public backlash due to reduced morning daylight. The Senate must decide on the Sunshine Protection Act before the end of the current congressional session.