Trump Vows to Fight for Permanent Daylight Saving Time as Senate Bill Remains Stalled

As the Senate considers the Sunshine Protection Act to mandate year-round daylight saving time, President Trump stated on Wednesday that he plans to keep fighting for the legislative change, latimes.com reported.

House Approves Measure While Companion Bill Stalls in Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure in July in a 308-117 vote to make year-round daylight saving time the default for most of the United States, according to usatoday.com. However, its companion bill remains stalled in the Senate. Trump wrote on Truth Social, Too bad the Senate has not yet approved the Sunshine Protection Act or, the I Don’t Want to Change My Clocks Anymore Act. Daylight saving time ended on Sunday, moving clocks back one hour at 2 a.m., and will begin again on March 14, 2027, unless the bill passes both chambers and receives a presidential signature.

Trump remarked in his post that it was dark by 5:31 p.m., noting that just days prior it was sunny at the same time. He added that he avoided pushing the issue aggressively before the election to prevent certain senators from losing their races, but expressed frustration that the chamber has not acted.

Debated Impacts of Permanent Timekeeping

While permanent daylight saving time would create brighter winter evenings, it would also result in darker winter mornings. Los Angeles would experience its latest sunrise of the year at 8 a.m., Sacramento at 8:24 a.m., and San Francisco at 8:25 a.m under the proposed legislation. The debate over the time change has divided golf course owners, who favor later sunsets for evening business, and doctors, who argue that altered morning and evening light disrupts human circadian rhythms.

Opposition to the bill has also centered on student safety. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has argued that late winter sunrises would force children to walk to school in the dark, increasing the risk of traffic accidents—a danger observed during a brief 1974 test of year-round daylight saving time meant to combat an energy crisis. In October, Trump shared Sen. Cotton’s cellphone number online to encourage supporters to contact the lawmaker regarding the legislation.

Other critics, such as Save Standard Time founder Jay Pea, argue that permanent daylight saving time would unfairly burden outdoor workers, including construction crews, farmers, and groundskeepers, by forcing them to begin work an hour earlier relative to the sun. Pea supports an alternative proposal, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, introduced in July by Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, which would establish year-round standard time while allowing states to opt out.

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