It’s Just About Time to Change the Clocks Again, and We Should Finally Admit We’ll Never Fix This

This weekend, Americans turn the clocks back an hour. Having covered this issue for quite some time, my thinking has evolved from proposing creative solutions to accepting a bitter truth:

Congress will never fix this.

Not that nobody wants to. The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make U.S. daylight saving time permanent, passed the Senate by unanimous consent in March 2022.

This means not a single senator formally objected.

Then the bill went to the House, where it simply never came up for a vote. It’s been tried multiple times since then. In January 2025, both the Senate and House introduced it once more.

Same result: It sits in committee with no movement.

What it costs us

Between 60 and 75 percent of Americans want to stop changing the clocks. That’s the kind of consensus you rarely see on any political issue.

We can’t agree on immigration, taxes, or health care, but Americans largely agree that this twice-yearly ritual is pointless:

• A JPMorgan Chase Institute study found consumer spending drops 3.5 percent in the fall when daylight saving time ends, with supermarkets losing almost 6 percent of daily spending.
• The time changes disrupt our circadian rhythms, and in the aggregate, increase the risk of heart attacks and car accidents.
• The American Academy of Sleep Medicine argues for permanent standard time instead, saying it’s better for our health.

Either way, a significant majority agrees: Pick one and stick with it.

Not a priority

However, we’re a month into a government shutdown with no movement on negotiations between Democrats and the Trump administration.

In fact, the House of Representatives last held a full session on September 15.

So, I can’t imagine this becoming a priority anytime soon. As a result, it’s probably time to move on.

Even when Congress does turn its attention to this issue, they can’t agree on which direction to go:

• Some lawmakers want permanent daylight saving time.
• Others prefer permanent standard time.

Also, a failed 1974 experiment haunts any attempt to change the system.

Worth noting: Congress tried permanent daylight saving time half a century ago, and it ended it after just eight months.

Among the reasons: On January 7, 1974, sunrise in Washington didn’t happen until 8:27 a.m.

People hated sending kids to school in pitch darkness. Parents rebelled.

Tomorrow’s problem

In retrospect, even the 2022 Senate passage was something of an accident.

Some senators later said they would have objected if they’d known the bill had a chance at passing. They got caught by surprise, they said, during a routine unanimous consent procedure.

So, daylight saving time reform will always be tomorrow’s problem, or maybe the day after tomorrow.

There’s always something more urgent to address. With inflation, government shutdowns, wars, and countless other crises, even in more normal times, nobody wants to spend political capital on a debate about clocks.

My thinking used to be more optimistic. I once proposed moving the springtime change to Wednesday at 2:44 p.m. to avoid losing sleep.

I still kind of like that idea. However, I was wrong. The institutions are so broken that even a bill with public support approaching 75 percent can’t advance.

So, this Sunday at 2 a.m., we’ll all turn our clocks back. Come March, we’ll spring ahead and lose an hour of sleep. Congress will probably keep reintroducing bills. Senators will probably keep issuing press releases.

At least we still get a reminder to check the batteries in our smoke detectors twice a year.