Congress takes next step to make daylight saving time permanent

The US House of Representatives has voted to make daylight saving time permanent by passing the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday.

In a 308-117 vote, the bill will remove the need for Americans to change their clocks twice a year and put the US under time currently observed between March and November – known as permanent standard time.

Some states with areas that are exempt from daylight saving time may choose standard time for those areas.

The time-change issue has gained bipartisan support for years. The Senate passed a similar measure in 2022 but it never passed in the lower chamber. This time it has the backing of President Donald Trump.

The just-passed bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Since World War One, the US has set its clocks forward during the summer to have more daylight in the afternoon and to conserve electricity. The time-change is known as Daylight Saving Time (DST). Clocks roll back in the autumn each year to then follow standard time.

DST, which also helped conserve fuel during the first world war, was unpopular with farmers and was repealed after the war. It returned during World War Two, and legislation standardising clock-changing across the country passed in 1966, although some states, including Hawaii and Arizona, and US territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, have opted out.

In a May social media post, Trump said he was “going to work very hard” to see a law on time changes passed.

“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. It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it!” he said.

But critics of permanent DST have noted that it would lead to darker winter mornings, which could make road conditions more hazardous for those on the road in early hours.

Those who support keeping standard time also say there are health benefits from having more light in the morning, such as an improved sleep cycle.

Only about one third of the world’s countries follow some sort of daylight saving time, and the vast majority of them are in Europe, according to the Pew Research Center.

In Europe, only Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iceland, Russia and Turkey do not practice daylight saving time. In Africa, Egypt is the only nation with DST.