Senate skeptical about making daylight saving time permanent despite pressure

The Senate is unlikely to act before the end of the year on a House-passed bill that would make daylight saving time permanent, defying President Donald Trump and dashing the hopes of Americans who don't like having to change their clocks twice a year.

As daylight saving time ends early Sunday and much of the country turns the clocks back an hour, several senators are holding up legislation that would eliminate the longtime U.S. practice. Supporters argue that ending the time change would provide more daylight during the afternoon, when Americans are most active, but opponents say commuters in some states wouldn't see the sun until 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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter," said Sen.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.

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Cotton, a member of GOP leadership, is the most vocal opponent of the change, notably drawing Trump's ire earlier this month when the Republican president posted his personal cellphone number on social media and ordered him to "GET IT DONE!" But Cotton is not the only senator blocking the legislation, which would make daylight saving time the permanent national standard.

Several other Republicans, particularly those from some Northern states that would see much later sunrises, say they also oppose it.

"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 aggressively pushed the change, putting pressure on Senate Republicans to pass the House bill and send it to his desk. In the posts targeting Cotton earlier this month, Trump wrote that sunshine is better in the afternoon than the morning and "CRIMINALS DON'T LIKE WORKING IN THE LIGHT."

He renewed his call in a social media post this week, writing on Truth Social that "United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it."

An avid golfer, Trump has made clear that adding daylight hours would mean more time to hit the links. He has argued that changing the time can be dangerous, especially when "you have high and dangerous steeples to reach, like on churches and municipal buildings."

Even as many Americans now rely on digital clocks that change on their own, Trump said that "nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year."

The president's arguments don't appear to have changed many votes in the Senate, however. Cotton has doubled down in response to Trump's pressure, and several Republicans predicted in recent weeks that the bill won't come up for a vote in the short time left when the Senate returns to Washington after the Nov. 3 midterm election.

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Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said that it's his understanding that the House bill is a "non-starter" for Senate Republican leaders. Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio was even more blunt when asked this month if he thinks the bill will pass the Senate anytime soon.

"No way," Moreno said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hasn't weighed in publicly on the House bill, but he has voted against similar versions in the past.

Previous laws have been repealed

In the winter of 1973, amid an energy crisis, Congress passed a law instituting permanent daylight saving time for what was supposed to be a trial period. But it was repealed by that October as public support had sharply dropped, partly because of concern for children who were walking to school in the dark.

Now more than 50 years later, fewer Americans recall that experiment. Like Trump, many want to ditch the twice-yearly time change and add more daylight hours later in the day.

An AP-NORC poll last year found that only 12% of American adults were in favor of the current system, while almost half opposed it. Proponents of a single time include the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott signed legislation when he was governor in 2018 that would allow the state to remain on daylight saving time year round, pending federal approval. Now in the Senate, the Republican has led efforts to make that happen.

"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."