The US House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act
FOX News Chief Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram discusses the latest updates to the Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to make daylight saving time permanent by eliminating the need to change clocks twice a year.
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There are 86,410 seconds in a day.
1440 minutes.
The daylight hours in Washington, D.C. occur in June and last 14 hours and 57 minutes.
The shortest of them occurs on the day of the winter solstice and lasts only nine hours and 29 minutes.
Sunrise light falls on the US Capitol dome. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Congress can’t change anything. But it can change our perception.
Lawmakers typically spend money on cutting state taxes, economic stimulus and repealing cumbersome laws or policies.
Rewarding voters with something is part of the DNA of Congress.
So while time is limited, lawmakers are again trying to give people something: more daylight.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Sunshine Protection Act this week, 308-117.
HOUSE PASSED SUN PROTECTION ACT TO MAKE DAYLIGHT TIME PERMANENT
No. Our Sun was in no danger of going supernova, although it was already about halfway through its 10 billion-year lifespan. Lawmakers did not protect him. But that’s what they wanted you to think.
The Sunshine Protection Act puts the United States on Daylight Saving Time permanently. This is a temporary law created by Congress.
In other words, with the passage of the bill, we will never switch to standard time again.
No more “jumping forward” or “falling back.”
Now we are in summer time. And we’ll stay here if it becomes law.
“Poll shows that two-thirds of Americans want to unlock their watches. My bill is simply a solution to make daylight saving time permanent,” said Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), one of the legislation’s main sponsors. “Providing an extra hour of sunlight in the evening gives families more time for exercise and after-school activities.”
An extra hour of sunshine? Really?
In other words, there is actually the same amount of light—or lack thereof—at 7:00 pm Daylight Saving Time that we would experience at 6:00 pm Standard Time.
But Congress is in the business of charity.
“Why do we force families, businesses and communities to adjust their schedules every spring and fall? Changing clocks twice a year is a relic of the past that no longer reflects the American way of life,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL).
Perhaps this is an idea whose time has come.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., is the lead sponsor of the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would end twice-yearly clock changes. (Graham Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The time change every two years is crazy.
My mother taught second grade at the same elementary school I attended in rural Ohio.
One day the school custodian went to work early on the Monday morning after the fall time change. He began resetting the clocks in each classroom. He maneuvered from south to north through the building, updating the daycare clock. Then to first grade. After that, second grade. Third grade. Finally fourth grade.
But as you walked through the school, each clock was two or three minutes behind the one the caretaker had previously set.
We assumed that he looked at his watch at, say, around 7:10 am – and began setting each watch to 7:10 – regardless of the actual time. By the time you reached fourth grade, the clock was almost 20 minutes behind schedule.
As they say, timing is everything.
Only the episode featuring my mother and grandmother beats the school time slot.
My mom called my grandma one day to remind her that the time change would start at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
My grandmother was incredulous.
“You mean I have to sit up until two in the morning to change it?” she asked.
Setting year-round hours is not something worth losing sleep over. Most people just hate this exercise.
HOUSE PASSES DAY DAYLIGHT TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNAL SUPPORTS END OF CLOCK CHANGE
“People in Tennessee wanted it to go away. This is funny. In autumn it starts to get dark around 5:00. This depresses me a little.
Only one member spoke out in opposition when the House debated the time change bill: Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.).
Her grievances centered on why Congress was even considering the legislation when it was not prepared for pressing issues that could be key in the midterm elections.
“Right now we are not voting on bills that would reduce the sky-high costs of food, fuel, health care or to resolve the presidential war in Iran. Instead, we’re looking at a bill that was deadly and dangerous in the past, in the ’70s,” Dean said.
Dean is referring to the 1974 experiment. In late 1973, Congress voted to put the country on daylight saving time for two consecutive years. This will help fight the OPEC oil embargo and fuel shortages.
Daylight saving time (DST), or changing clocks by an hour, is ineffective at reducing energy costs and has health consequences, experts say. (iStock)
It was a disaster.
Children in Washington, D.C. headed to school around 8:30 a.m. It is unclear whether the watchman set the clock correctly. But according to one news report at the time, things were “black and black” in Washington. Some children go to school with flashlights to light their way.
You may not pay attention to politics.
But the time of day infuriated Americans in the mid-1970s.
Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed supported the transition to year-round time in December 1973.
But by August 1974, that number had dropped to 42 percent.
Future Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) proposed a measure to kill the daylight saving time project. It’s gone. And by autumn everyone had retreated.
The House panel that considered the issue said the clock change “must be balanced against the majority public’s opposition to daylight saving time.”
In 2022, the Senate unexpectedly approved a bill to implement year-round daylight saving time. But it died down when the House pressed the replay button.
The House of Representatives has now approved an updated version of the law. President Trump called the clock change “ridiculous.” Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) even discussed the issue with him this week.
President Donald Trump has expressed support for ending the twice-yearly clock change as the Senate considers the Sunshine Protection Act. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“He seems very enthusiastic about it. I would say so. And I think we’re going to move the bill pretty quickly,” Kennedy said. “Some of my colleagues are against this. They have the right to express their opinion. But I think we’ll have a vote soon.”
If the Senate passes the bill, some will say it’s time.
But others, like Madeleine Dean, remember the 1970s.
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George Santayana stated that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
But if you’re an hour ahead of daylight saving time, you might want to reset your clocks back to standard time.
Chad Pergram is currently the Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and resides in Washington, DC.