The measure passed the House by a vote of 308-117 and would keep the schedule currently used from March to November unless a state exempted itself before the law took effect. President Donald Trump has publicly supported the legislation and urged lawmakers to send it to his desk.
The debate over changing the nation’s time system has continued for years. Many Americans dislike adjusting their clocks twice a year, while lawmakers remain divided over whether permanent daylight saving time or another approach would create the best outcome.
House Approves Permanent Daylight Saving Time Proposal
The House vote marked a new step in efforts to end the regular clock changes across the United States. The bill, sponsored by Representative Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., would establish year-round daylight saving time for the country.
Representative Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., who presided over the House floor during the vote, played the Beatles song “Here Comes the Sun” on his phone while reading the final tally.
Trump has promoted the legislation through his social media platform. According to a May 21 post on Truth Social, he said he was “going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into Law.”
Trump also argued that ending the twice-yearly clock changes would allow people to stop worrying about the time adjustment and reduce the work and money associated with changing clocks.
The proposal would not apply automatically to every location. Arizona, Hawaii and several U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, do not currently observe daylight saving time.
Senate Support Remains Uncertain After Previous Setback
The bill’s next step is the Senate, where lawmakers have raised concerns about moving to permanent daylight saving time. Although the House approved the measure with broad support, the Senate is not expected to quickly pass it.
A Senate version of the Sunshine Protection Act stalled in 2024 after Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected to advancing the bill through unanimous consent in October. Cotton said permanent daylight saving time could create problems in parts of the country where sunrise would occur at 9 a.m. or later.
He pointed to concerns about dark morning commutes and workers who would have to begin their days before sunrise. According to a senior Hill aide, Cotton still has the same concerns and several senators from both parties have opposed the Senate version during committee discussions.
The aide said Cotton planned to ask Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., not to bring the legislation forward for a vote. When asked about the House measure, Thune told NBC News:
“I just don’t think we want a mandate, and that was tried once before and repealed, but we’re looking at it.”
Thune added that the House vote showed significant interest among lawmakers, with some senators supporting the proposal and others opposing it.
A Long-Running Debate over the Nation’s Clocks
The effort to change the country’s time system follows decades of debate. Representative Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said many of his constituents wanted permanent daylight saving time but expressed doubt about whether the Senate would act on the bill.
“I’m kind of digging the fact that we’re going to fix it, I hope,” Burchett said. “See if the Senate takes it up. They probably won’t, but we’ll see.”
Representative Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said he supported the proposal and pointed to health concerns linked to time changes. McCormick, who previously worked as an emergency room doctor, said, “you get more depression, you get out of joint” with the clock adjustments.
According to a 2025 AP-NORC poll, changing clocks twice a year is unpopular among Americans, though views differ on how the system should be changed. Congress previously attempted to address the issue in 2022, when the Senate approved a permanent daylight saving time bill by unanimous consent, but the measure did not move forward in the House.
The United States has experimented with permanent daylight saving time before. In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon signed legislation that extended daylight saving time for two years as an energy-saving measure during the oil crisis. The law was repealed less than a year after taking effect following public opposition to darker mornings.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nearly all states have considered measures to stop the twice-yearly clock changes, and 19 states have passed laws that would allow year-round daylight saving time if Congress approved the change.
Daylight saving time was used temporarily as a wartime measure during World War I and World War II before becoming a nationwide policy through the Uniform Time Act of 1966. The law established the current system, with clocks moving forward one hour in March and back one hour in November.
