A bid to end the biannual practice of changing clocks and make daylight saving time permanent moved one step closer to becoming law on Tuesday.
The House voted 308-117 to pass the bill, known as The Sunshine Protection Act, a day after it cleared a key hurdle in the House Rules Committee. The measure, which has bipartisan support and the backing of President Donald Trump, would allow states to make daylight saving time permanent, with the option to opt out.
The legislation aims to permanently end the twice-annual changing of clocks and establish daylight saving time as the national standard. Supporters of the bill cited economic benefits like boosted tourism and outdoor recreation, while proponents voiced concerns that the measure would negatively impact health.
Here is everything you should know about daylight saving time, from when it starts and ends, to why it was created (it wasn’t to help farmers) and if “saving” is plural or singular.
Daylight saving time — setting the clocks forward one hour during the summer half of the year — has been in place in nearly all of the United States since the 1960s. With the exception of Arizona and Hawaii, most states observe daylight saving time.
The Sunshine Protection Act’s momentum comes after the House Energy and Commerce Committee overwhelmingly passed the measure 48-1 in May. A month prior, Trump had urged Congress to end time changes and “push hard for more daylight at the end of a day.”
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who authored the measure, said in a statement Monday that Americans are “tired of the biannual time change.”
“Ending the clock change is a commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans,” he added.
Since the bill passed the House on Tuesday, it now moves to the Senate for a vote. In order for Trump to sign it into law, it must pass both the Senate and the House.
The president has long pushed for an end to time changes, writing in an April Truth Social post that staying on daylight saving time would be “Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”
The Senate voted unanimously in March 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent, but the measure failed to advance in the House. And though polls show most Americans dislike changing their clocks twice a year, the political moves necessary to change the system haven’t succeeded, as opinions on the issue and its potential impacts remain sharply divided.
The stress of switching to daylight saving time is more than just mental. Science shows it takes a physical toll as well.
Supporters of the Sunshine Protection Act say the time shift causes sleep disturbances, greater workplace injuries and more car crashes. They also believe brighter evenings would encourage more economic activity during winter and allow kids to be outdoors and physically active for longer hours.
Although the legislation passed the House, it faces opposition from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Cotton has said the Sunrise Protection Act would result in “absurdly late” winter sunrises and force children to “walk to school in the pitch black” in much of the country. The lawmaker previously thwarted a bipartisan group of senators who sought unanimous consent to pass a similar measure in 2025.
Springing one hour ahead is also “not good for brain health,” according to sleep experts. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the American Medical Association and the National Sleep Foundation have all called for year-round standard time, which they say aligns the body with natural daylight.
Many states, however, are ready to “ditch the switch.” Nineteen states have already passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent should Congress allow it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states have introduced legislation calling for permanent standard time.
Buchanan, who has put forward the bill regularly since 2018, proposed it again this year. The plan is popular in the lawmaker’s home state because it would allow more evening hours to play on golf courses and sports fields.
The United States used year-round daylight saving time during World War II. It was reenacted by President Richard Nixon in 1974 to reduce energy use following the country’s oil crisis. But that stint proved unpopular and brief — it was repealed by Congress later that year.
Making daylight saving time permanent would mean the sun rises around 9 a.m. in Detroit for a while during the winter. Staying on standard time year round means the sun would be up at 4:11 a.m. in Seattle in June.
Jay Pea, president of Save Standard Time, an organization devoted to switching to standard time for good, weighed in on the longlasting time change debate, saying, “There’s no law we can pass to move the sun to our will” — although that hasn’t deterred lawmakers from toying with the idea.
Katharine Lee
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