00:00Yet another time-shifting bill is making its way to the floor of Congress
00:03to make permanent daylight saving time the law of the land,
00:07and if passed, could mean the end of a twice-yearly clock-changing ritual.
00:11But is permanent daylight saving time all sunshine and rainbows?
00:15Here's what you need to know.
00:16A bill to make daylight saving time permanent cleared a key committee hurdle on July 13th
00:21when it passed the House Rules Committee in a 6-4 vote.
00:24The major milestone means the House could vote on the measure this week.
00:28If passed, it would then go to the Senate,
00:30which has a history of supporting legislation that permanently springs clocks forward.
00:35The bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act,
00:37ends the U.S.'s twice-yearly clock-changing ritual
00:40in favor of keeping daylight saving time permanent,
00:43meaning when clocks spring forward an hour during springtime,
00:46they would stay there forever.
00:48The change would generally lead to an hour or more of sunlight at the end of each day,
00:52which proponents argue would help build public safety and economic productivity.
00:56The bill, which still allows states to opt out of the clock swap,
01:00has garnered bipartisan support, including from President Trump,
01:04who threw his weight behind the measure
01:05after it passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee
01:08in a stunning 48-to-1 vote in May.
01:11It's time that people can stop worrying about the clock,
01:14not to mention all of the work and money that is spent
01:16on this ridiculous twice-yearly production.
01:19It will also be a very nice win for the Republican Party.
01:22Take it!
01:23We are going with the far more popular alternative,
01:26saving daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter day.
01:29And who could be against that?
01:31This is an easy one, the president wrote on Truth Social.
01:35Trump, though, has flip-flopped on the issue.
01:37In March 2025, the president called the clock-changing debate a, quote,
01:4050-50 issue, which made it, quote,
01:43hard to get excited about.
01:44According to Fox News, at least 20 states have already cleared the way
01:48for permanent daylight saving time,
01:50should Congress pass the measure and Trump give his seal of approval.
01:54But some experts and legislators are lukewarm on the proposal.
01:57Critics have long argued that permanent daylight savings hours
02:00go against the human body's natural sleep cycle,
02:03where dark evenings induce sleep and bright mornings awaken.
02:07Some health experts have argued that making standard time permanent
02:10would more closely follow those rhythms.
02:12And some in Congress are following suit.
02:15In response to the advancing talks on cementing daylight saving time
02:18as the law of the land,
02:20Rep. Mary Scanlon introduced a competing bill
02:22to do away with daylight saving time
02:24and to instead make standard time permanent.
02:26The Democrat from Pennsylvania introduced the Sunshine for Our Kids Act,
02:30which would federally institute standard time,
02:33meaning Americans' clocks would fall back in November and stay there.
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