The United States House of Representatives has passed the Sunshine Protection Act, a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent and put an end to the twice-yearly ritual of changing the clocks. According to the account, the House approved the bill, known as H.R. 139, on Tuesday by a vote of 308 to 117, sending a proposal that has been debated for years a decisive step closer to becoming law after a long campaign by its supporters to do away with the seasonal switch.
The vote does not settle the question on its own. According to the account, even after passing the House the measure still has to clear the United States Senate by a majority vote before it can go to President Trump to be signed into law. The bill had earlier advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a 48 to 1 vote, and lawmakers framed its progress as a rare moment of bipartisan agreement in a deeply divided Congress.
The measure's prospects in the Senate, however, are far from certain. According to the account, the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, does not support making daylight saving time permanent, even though the bill cleared the House overwhelmingly. As the lawmaker who controls the floor schedule, his reluctance carries weight, and he has argued that in his northern state of South Dakota the change would mean the sun rising much later in the morning, offering less benefit than it would to a state such as Florida, where the tourism and restaurant industries strongly back the idea of keeping the country on later evening light all year.
President Trump expressed strong support for the legislation, saying it is time that people can stop worrying about the clock, not to mention all the work and money that is spent on what he called a ridiculous twice a year production. According to the account, that presidential endorsement had been expected to lift the bill's chances in the House, where it has now passed, and to weigh on the Senate as it prepares to take the measure up.
The bill also leaves room for individual states to chart their own course. According to the account, it would let state legislatures lock in the time they prefer, so that places such as Arizona and Hawaii, which already stay on standard time, could continue to do so. Supporters pointed out that nineteen states have already passed legislation calling for permanent daylight saving time, and cited surveys suggesting only a small share of Americans, around twelve percent, want to keep switching their clocks twice a year.
However, sleep scientists and health experts are sounding the alarm about the potential consequences of choosing permanent daylight saving time over permanent standard time. Dr. Karin Johnson, a neurology professor at UMass Bay State and vice president of the nonprofit Save Standard Time, told FOX News that Congress is getting the science exactly backwards.
The science is really clear. We do want to end clock changes because there are certainly harms that occur, especially after the spring change, Dr. Johnson explained. But what a lot of people do not realize is we actually have harms that last throughout the entire daylight savings time period. Studies now show that we are at risk for increased rates of obesity and stroke and heart attacks and cancer and suicide.
Dr. Johnson argued that aligned sunlight, where the sun is overhead as close to noon as possible, is essential for healthy circadian rhythms. When we set the clocks an hour later, it makes us want to stay up later and get up later, she said. But our social schedules do not move later. We still need to get up for work and school, creating a chronic misalignment between biological and social clocks.
The Save Standard Time nonprofit has urged Congress to instead adopt permanent standard time, arguing that it would protect sleep, boost productivity and benefit the economy. The organization claims that permanent daylight saving time would be worse for public health than the current system of switching clocks twice a year.
The debate over clock changes has been a recurring issue in American politics for decades. A previous version of the Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate unanimously in 2022 but failed to advance in the House. With strong presidential backing and a decisive committee vote, supporters say this time could be different, though the scientific community remains deeply divided over which time standard the country should adopt permanently.