Add The New York Post on Google President Trump threw his support behind a congressional bill to end the twice-a-year Daylight Savings Time switch after a House committee backed the bid with overwhelming bipartisan support.
House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Thursday by a 48-1 vote — which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
The measure appears to have wide support in the House, with 32 bipartisan cosponsors of the bill. A similar measure in the Senate has 18 cosponsors from both parties.
“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 on TruthSocial.
“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,” the president said. “Many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive!”
President Trump backed the move to make daylight savings time permanent — saying it was an “easy one.” AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The measure was tucked inside a transportation bill, and would do away with standard time altogether — meaning when clocks spring forward an hour during springtime they would stay there forever, and the fall back to standard every autumn would be eliminated.
That would generally lead to an hour or more of sunlight at the end of each day — which proponents argue would help both public safety and economic productivity.
But that would also mean winter sunrises could come extremely late in some places — with daylight coming as late as 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.
Critics also argue permanent daylight savings hours would go against the human body’s natural sleep cycle — where dark evenings induce sleep and bright mornings awaken.
Some health experts say making standard time permanent would more closely follow those rhythms.
The measure would keep clocks sprung forward and hour and eliminate the autumn fall back permanently. AP It is unclear who cast the single “Nay” in Thursday’s vote, but Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA.) raised arguments about the health impacts of permanent daylight savings time, the Hill reported.
Any changes still have a long way to go before becoming a reality, however, with Thursday’s successful vote just the first step in the process.
The bill still needs pass the full US House, and then the Senate from there to come into law.
The switch has been proposed every year since 2018, with Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) regularly proposing it with bi-partisan support — though it has never been able to pass. It briefly passed under President Nixon in 1974, but was repealed the same year by President Ford.
That’s even with the president’s ongoing support, which he doubled down on this time around.
“I am going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into Law,” Trump wrote Thursday.
“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!”
