President Donald Trump urged Senate Republicans on Friday, October 2, to advance the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would establish permanent daylight saving time across the United States. In a post on Truth Social, Trump criticized the current twice-yearly clock changes as costly and disruptive, specifically naming Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) as the reason for the measure’s lack of progress in the Senate. Trump referred to the legislation as the “No More Changing of Clocks Act.”
The effort follows a 308-117 bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives on July 14 to pass the Sunshine Protection Act. While the Senate unanimously passed a similar measure in 2022, that version stalled in the House. Current Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has expressed uncertainty regarding whether the current bill can secure the 60 votes necessary to advance in the upper chamber.
Trump argued that permanent daylight saving time would provide an extra hour of evening sunlight, which he stated could reduce crime and traffic accidents while benefiting the tourism, retail, and restaurant industries. Conversely, Sen. Cotton has argued that permanent daylight saving time would lead to later winter sunrises, forcing children and commuters to travel in darkness. Cotton noted that a similar experiment with year-round daylight saving time in 1974 was repealed within a year due to public concerns over safety and dark winter mornings.
The policy change would have distinct impacts on specific sectors and religious groups. Organizations like Agudath Israel of America have stated that later sunrises would make it difficult for observant Jews to complete morning prayers before arriving at work by 9 a.m. Additionally, the ski industry has expressed concern regarding safety challenges in mountain areas during darker mornings, and sleep medicine experts, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, argue that permanent daylight saving time remains out of sync with human biology. Nineteen states have already passed laws to adopt permanent daylight saving time, but these cannot be enacted without the federal change proposed in this bill.
As of October 2, 2026, the bill remains pending in the Senate. If no legislative action is taken, U.S. residents are scheduled to set their clocks back one hour on November 1, 2026, as the country returns to Standard Time. A specific date for a Senate vote has not been reported, and the measure must clear the 60-vote threshold to proceed to the President's desk.