US senators make new push to make daylight saving permanent
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. made a new push Friday on bipartisan legislation that would make daylight saving permanent.
S. 582, also coined the Sunshine Protection Act, would make daylight saving permanent and add an hour to the day. The Senate unanimously passed the legislation in March 2022, but it has been stalled since.
The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight saving time, to remain on standard time, as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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“The antiquated biannual ritual of toggling between times isn’t just an inconvenience—it also has very real impacts on our economy, our energy consumption, and our health,” Markey said in a statement released. “We know the sun will come out tomorrow, so let’s make that sun stay out an hour later by making Daylight Saving Time permanent and passing the Sunshine Protection Act. You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun … and smiles.”
“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Actwould end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” Rubio also said in the announcement.
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott also called to “lock the clock,” calling upon Congress to move forward with the legislation.
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“Floridians are sick of changing their clocks because we all want more sunshine,” Scott said in a statement released. “It’s time for Congress to act and I’m proud to be leading the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act with Senator Rubio to get this done. When I was Governor of Florida, I signed this bill into law on the state level. Now it’s Washington’s turn and we should finish the job by passing this good bill today.”
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives in March 2023. H.R. 1279, also called the Sunshine Protection Act, seeks to make daylight saving permanent as well.
“There are enormous health and economic benefits to making daylight saving time permanent,” Buchanan told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Florida lawmakers have already voted to make daylight saving time permanent in my home state and Congress should pass the Sunshine Protection Act to move Florida and the rest of the country to year-round daylight saving time. Changing our clocks twice a year is inconvenient and entirely unnecessary. It’s time to end this antiquated practice.”
President Joe Biden has not yet taken a stance on the issue, while former President Donald Trump tweeted back in 2019 he was “O.K.” with making daylight saving permanent.
“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump wrote on Twitter at the time, now known as X.
Approximately 30 states have introduced legislation to permanently end the changing of clocks twice a year since 2015, according to Reuters. Some states have also only proposed to make the change so long as neighboring states do the same, per the outlet.
Daylight saving time has been in place in nearly all the United States since the 1960s after initially being tried in 1918.
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Year-round daylight saving was used during World War II and adopted once again in 1973 in an effort to reduce fuel use.
Daylight saving starts on Sunday, March 10.
Reuters contributed to this report.
