President Donald Trump is renewing pressure on the Senate to pass a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide, but senate GOP daylight saving opposition from within his own party is casting doubt on whether the measure can clear the upper chamber, according to Time Magazine.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday evening, Trump praised the House for passing the Sunshine Protection Act last month and called on senators to follow suit. "People are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year. It is foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly," Trump wrote, according to Time. He argued the biannual clock change is "bad for your health in the anxiety it creates" and claimed permanent Daylight Saving Time would decrease robbery and murder rates, reduce car accidents involving pedestrians, lower the risk of cardiac issues and stroke, and make it safer for children to walk home from school. "This is an issue that Republicans, Dumocrats, and Independents can unite behind," he added, urging "Republican Senators to PASS THE SUNSHINE PROTECTION ACT, ASAP."
The House approved its version of the bill, H.R. 139, by a vote of 308-117 on July 14, sending the measure to the Senate, according to Seacoastonline.com. The Senate's companion legislation, S. 29, sponsored by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, has been sitting with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation since January 7, 2025, Seacoastonline.com reported. The House bill was filed by Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida.
Despite Trump's public backing, the bill's path forward is uncertain. Time Magazine reported that the Senate was on recess when Trump issued his latest appeal, with lawmakers not scheduled to return to the Capitol until September 14, meaning no floor action could happen before then.
Cotton Invokes the Failed 1974 Experiment
The clearest sign of senate GOP daylight saving opposition comes from Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who has publicly spoken against making Daylight Saving Time permanent. In a Senate floor speech in October, Cotton pointed to the country's brief experiment with year-round Daylight Saving Time in 1974, a change that was repealed within a year after it proved deeply unpopular, Time Magazine reported.
"In January of 1974, millions of Americans traveled to work and school in darkness. Commuter trains were delayed. Schoolchildren carried flashlights. Tragically, some of these kids were struck by cars and killed while walking to school in the dark," Cotton said, according to Time. "It's said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And that's what would happen if Congress passes the so-called 'Sunshine Protection Act.'" Cotton also argued that for many people in Arkansas, permanent Daylight Saving Time would result in dark winter mornings that outweigh any evening benefit.
Cotton's objection echoes a broader divide among Republicans and outside experts over which system is better: permanent Daylight Saving Time, which shifts an extra hour of light to evenings year-round, or permanent Standard Time, which sleep scientists say better matches the human body's natural rhythms.
What Changing the Clocks Permanently Would Actually Look Like
Under current law, most of the country shifts clocks forward an hour in March for Daylight Saving Time and back an hour in November for Standard Time. Hawaii and most of Arizona are the only areas that already opt out, remaining on Standard Time year-round, since federal law does not currently allow states to adopt permanent Daylight Saving Time on their own, Time Magazine reported. The Sunshine Protection Act would change that by making Daylight Saving Time the year-round standard nationally, while still allowing individual states to opt out.
The practical effect would vary sharply by location and season, according to data compiled by Seacoastonline.com using timeanddate.com. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the total amount of daylight on any given day would not change, but its timing would. On the winter solstice, Portsmouth's sunrise would shift from 7:11 a.m. under the current Standard Time to 8:11 a.m. under permanent Daylight Saving Time, while sunset would move from 4:11 p.m. to 5:11 p.m. Summer times would stay the same, since Daylight Saving Time is already in effect during those months.
New York City would see a similar shift: a 7:16 a.m. winter sunrise under Standard Time would become 8:16 a.m., with sunset pushed from 4:31 p.m. to 5:31 p.m., Time Magazine and Seacoastonline.com both noted, though their specific minute-by-minute figures varied slightly depending on the source. Farther north, the effects grow more extreme. In Anchorage, Alaska, a 10:13 a.m. winter sunrise under Standard Time would become 11:13 a.m. under permanent Daylight Saving Time, according to Seacoastonline.com. Time Magazine reported an even more dramatic case in Juneau, Alaska, where sunrise in winter could occur as late as past 11 a.m. local time, with sunset around 4:40 p.m.
Seacoastonline.com noted that darker winter mornings would mean more children waiting at bus stops before sunrise and more commuters traveling to work in the dark, an issue raised by safety experts and legislators alike. Later sunsets, meanwhile, are favored by tourism and business advocates who see value in extended evening light.
Sleep Scientists Push Back
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has formally condemned the House's passage of the Sunshine Protection Act, arguing that permanent Daylight Saving Time would misalign with human circadian rhythms. "This biological misalignment would lead to chronic sleep deprivation and other health complications," the group said in a statement cited by Time Magazine. "It would also raise public safety concerns by increasing the risk of traffic accidents and pedestrian deaths, particularly for children waiting for school buses and walking to school in the dark." The organization has instead advocated for permanent Standard Time, arguing it better matches the body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
That position puts sleep researchers at odds with Trump's stated rationale, since the President has argued the opposite: that permanent Daylight Saving Time would reduce cardiac issues, stroke risk and seasonal depression while making it safer for children walking home from school.
The Senate previously showed some appetite for change, having voted by unanimous consent in 2022 to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, though that push stalled after the House failed to take it up, Time Magazine reported. Whether that same consensus can be rebuilt now depends largely on senators like Cotton, whose objections, grounded in the disastrous 1974 rollout, remain unresolved as the bill awaits action once the Senate returns from recess in mid-September.
