It doesn’t seem like much good news is coming out of the U.S. Congress these days.
With the House and Senate nearly equally divided, agreement, consensus and compromise are hard to come by. The sound of grinding gears and not much progress seems to be a theme. But there has been an important bipartisan development in the House of Representatives.
Daylight saving time (DST) may become permanent. On July 14, the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (H.R. 139) by a vote of 308–117. Speaker Pro Tempore Scott DeJarlais played the opening bars of the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” over the mic once the tally was read.
I wrote a column a while back in favor of springing forward and staying there. They must have been listening. The two annual time changes are dopey, so if it’s possible to get them fixed, two thumbs up for Congress. But Congress being what it is, there’s never a sure bet.
For years – starting during the 1974 oil embargo – Congress has batted around the idea of adopting DST as the law of the land. But shockingly, they haven’t been able to agree on anything. In 2022, then-Sen. Marco Rubio introduced his version of the Sunshine Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate unanimously. The pitch was that longer afternoons improve mental health, reduce disruptions and boost economic activity. Sounds like a slam dunk. But after moving to the House of Representatives, the bill stalled. A significant number of representatives argued that we should adopt standard time instead of daylight saving time. The bill died. Even simple things aren’t so simple sometimes. There’s a reason people see the Senate as the chamber of grown-ups and the House as… something different.
The fact that the House is bringing the bill forward this time might mean it has a good chance to pass. Hard to tell.
A YouGov poll from February 2026 found that 64% of Americans want to eliminate the twice-yearly clock change, with 43% favoring permanent daylight saving time and 28% preferring permanent standard time. So somewhere around two-thirds of people agree the current system is for the birds.
As with most studies, it’s easy to find what you want when you’re looking for it. A 2023 study from Risk Management and Healthcare Policy found that “greater overall sunlight exposure – without isolating sunset timing – correlated with improved mental health outcomes, including reduced depression and anxiety symptoms.” Presumably, it’s easier to take advantage of an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day rather than in the morning. But not everyone agrees. Several health groups and some Midwestern states have pushed back, arguing for year-round standard time instead, since it better aligns with circadian rhythms and gives kids more daylight for the morning commute to school. For me, it’s simple; I’d rather have that hour of sunlight at the end of the day. The legislation gives states the option to opt out of year-round DST if they act before the law takes effect. We will see what happens as it meanders its way over to the Senate.
I love the old saying, often attributed to a Native American elder: “Only the white man would cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and think he has a longer blanket.” It may be a silly debate about how we “cut the blanket” on sunshine, but there’s a clear consensus to end the spring forward, fall back nonsense.
I love that extra hour of sleep I get when we “fall back” in November as much as the next guy. But I’m willing to make the sacrifice to adopt year-round DST. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, are you listening?