The House is expected to vote next week on legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, reviving a long-running effort to eliminate the practice of changing clocks twice each year.
Under the current system, most of the country moves clocks forward by one hour each spring and back again each fall. Daylight saving time has been observed across most of the United States since the 1960s, with Arizona and Hawaii remaining the primary exceptions.
The legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in May by a decisive 48-1 vote. The bill, which is supported by President Donald Trump, would make daylight saving time the permanent standard while allowing individual states to opt out if they choose.
Supporters of the measure argue that ending the twice-yearly clock changes would eliminate disruptions to Americans’ sleep schedules and reduce the loss of productivity that many associate with the seasonal time shifts.
President Trump has repeatedly voiced his support for making daylight saving time permanent and has pledged to work toward getting the legislation signed into law.
Following the committee’s approval of the bill, Trump criticized the current practice of changing clocks twice a year in a social media post.
“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” Trump wrote after the committee voted to advance the legislation.
The proposal represents another attempt to make the change permanent after a similar bill cleared the Senate in 2022 with unanimous support. Despite passing that chamber, the measure ultimately stalled in the House and never became law.
If the legislation is approved by the House this time, it could still encounter resistance in the Senate.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has expressed concerns about permanently adopting daylight saving time, arguing that it would result in much later winter sunrises. Cotton warned that such a change could mean children would either have to walk to school before sunrise or force schools to delay the start of the school day.
Those concerns could become part of the debate if the legislation reaches the Senate floor.
The House version of the Sunshine Protection Act was introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., where permanent daylight saving time has long been a popular idea. Supporters in Florida have argued that extending daylight later into the evening would benefit the state’s tourism industry while encouraging more outdoor recreation.
The proposal has also attracted bipartisan backing.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has supported the legislation. Pallone agreed that ending the clock changes could improve safety while also providing benefits for New Jersey’s tourism industry.
The debate over daylight saving time is not new. The United States has experimented with year-round daylight saving time on previous occasions.
According to the legislation’s supporters, the country observed permanent daylight saving time during World War II. The policy was also briefly reinstated under former President Richard Nixon following the 1973 oil crisis.
With a House vote now scheduled, lawmakers are once again taking up the question of whether Americans should continue adjusting their clocks twice each year or move to a permanent daylight saving time standard nationwide.
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