Lawmakers Advance Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

Republicans are once again attempting to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, with President Donald Trump promising to lead the push to end the longstanding American practice of switching clocks twice a year. 

The latest proposal advanced after the ‌House Energy and Commerce Committee folded it into a broader transportation bill that was voted out of the committee on Thursday to be sent to the House floor.

“Big Vote today (48-1!) in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a Bill including The Sunshine Protection Act, which will be making Daylight Saving Time Permanent!” Trump posted. “This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks.”

Trump said he will work “very hard” to see the act signed into law, which he says will be a win for the Republican Party. 

“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 added. “We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”

In 2022, the Senate passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent across the country, but it stalled in the House. Sen. Rick Scott (R, Fla.) introduced the recent Senate version of the bill. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R, Fla.), who introduced similar bills in the past and sponsored the current House one, said in a statement that ending the clock change “is a commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans.”

Buchanan said in his statement that the House version of the Sunshine Protection Act was successfully marked up and will be sent to the floor for consideration as part of the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act. If it passes, it would then require passage in the Senate before being signed into law by Trump.

Is DST popular?

The public is largely supportive of locking their clocks. An October 2025 AP-NORC nationwide poll shows that almost half of Americans oppose the practice of switching clocks twice yearly, and only 12% favor it. A YouGov survey conducted earlier this year found that about two-thirds of Americans want the practice abolished.

But the sticking point is the replacement. The AP-NORC poll found that 56% prefer year-round Daylight Saving Time (with less light in the morning and more in the evening) while 42% would rather have year-round standard time (with more light in the morning and less in the evening). The YouGov survey, meanwhile, showed respondents leaned towards permanent Daylight Saving Time, and also found that most Americans would prefer it to get dark later in the evening.

Current federal law allows states to exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time by state law. Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t participate in Daylight Saving Time, and are on standard time all year round. But states have no authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time. 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 states have enacted legislation to observe year-round Daylight Saving Time if Congress would allow the change, with some making it conditional on whether neighboring states would also change their clocks.

Read More: The States That Don’t Observe Daylight Saving Time—and the Ones Trying to Stay in It Permanently

Support for permanent Daylight Saving Time has come primarily from coastal areas like Florida, where residents hope to enjoy more daylight at later hours, while those in the middle parts of the U.S. tend to oppose the prospect of late sunrises. In October, Sen. Tom Cotton (R, Ark.) indicated he would oppose making Daylight Saving Time permanent, saying doing so will “again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans,” adding that in some states, people won’t see the sunrise until 9 a.m.

Trump has repeatedly called for clock-switching to end. In 2019, he said making Daylight Saving Time permanent would be “OK” with him. After winning the 2024 election, Trump said that Republicans would work to eliminate it.

Last year, after he returned to the White House, he acknowledged the thorny politics, adding that there is an “even” public split. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in March 2025. “And it’s very much, it’s a little bit one way, but it’s very much a 50-50 issue.”

It’s not the first time Daylight Saving Time has been pushed to be the standard. Clocks were moved forward an hour in 1942 during World War II—known as “War Time”—and then went back to normal after the war ended. In 1974, amid an energy crisis, the U.S. government implemented year-round Daylight Saving Time, but support plummeted as parents grew concerned about traffic accidents involving their children when the sun appeared to rise later in the morning. The time change was repealed just months later. Health experts have also pointed out that permanent standard time has evidentiary benefits on health and safety compared to permanent Daylight Saving Time.