Congress

Inside Trump’s campaign to make daylight saving time permanent

Published

4 months ago

June 5, 2026

Donald Trump is setting up his latest loyalty test on Capitol Hill — and it’s not about the war in Iran, Cabinet nominees or his White House ballroom.

Instead, the president is lobbying GOP lawmakers on a plan to make daylight saving time permanent, meaning more daylight in the evening hours and an end to the twice-yearly clock-resetting ritual observed in most states.

Trump has fixated on this issue, believing it resonates with voters who are burdened by “all of the work and money” associated with changing the clocks every six months. He scored an initial victory last month when members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 to insert an amendment into their portion of a surface transportation reauthorization bill that would codify daylight saving time across the country.

His personal touch, coupled with engagement from the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, helped land the provision in the House transportation bill, according to a senior White House official granted anonymity to share private legislative strategy.

“The president has been actively engaged in this,” the senior official said in an interview. “It’s a big priority for him.”

Trump also made personal phone calls to Republicans on the matter.

“He’s a big fan of it,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) of a call he received from Trump about making daylight saving time permanent. “He said, ‘Do you still think this is a good idea?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do, I think it’s a great idea.’”

The president took a victory lap on social media following the committee vote, saying enactment of the so-called Sunshine Protection Act — the text of which was included in the broader measure — would be a “very nice WIN for the Republican Party.”

It remains to be seen, however, whether Trump will be able to parlay support within his party at the committee level to the House and Senate floors, where many members could then be less enthusiastic about voting on a policy change that would have far-reaching consequences.

There have been bipartisan efforts for years to make daylight saving time the norm and none have been successful. Lawmakers have been torn between advocacy from the golf and retail industries eager for more daylight to boost their businesses, and sleep experts who warn of the adverse health effects of darker morning hours — and some Jewish constituents whose daily morning prayers are required to happen in daylight.

Republicans are operating with fragile majorities and rebellions from even one lawmaker can tank an entire bill. In the Senate, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) blocked an attempt last October to pass a version of the Sunshine Protection Act on the Senate floor, arguing that farmers in his state “might go three, four, even five hours in the morning without seeing the sun.”

Cotton declined to comment on the latest Trump push to pass the bill. But he’s not alone, said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who chairs the Environment and Public Works panel with jurisdiction over the highway funding portion of the surface transportation bill.

“I’ve already heard from people over here who don’t like it,” she said in a recent interview.

The five-year measure is also a must-pass bill that will require bipartisan support, and even Democrats who supported the daylight saving time amendment in committee said in later interviews they don’t think the provision should necessarily carry over to the president’s desk.

“I know that it comes up from time to time, but when I’m at home, people are not talking to me about this whatsoever,” said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “They’re talking about the high-income cost of gas, high cost of groceries, the fact that health care has been ripped away from them.”

She said the daylight saving time amendment “probably should have [been] debated in the light of day.”

Trump has talked about the economic argument for ending the twice-a-year clock adjustments, recently writing on Truth Socialthat “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.”

Ending daylight saving time, he added, “gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”

Other than that, it’s less clear why Trump has seized on this issue specifically given the various other urgent matters affecting the nation. But according to the senior White House official, the administration’s case is grounded in personal health and the economy — and that every parent of a small child would agree it’s a drag on sleep schedules.

“The overall thrust of the policy is just to stop dealing with the health issues and the various pieces of economic dislocation that occur when we have to change our clocks. And if you’re a parent, the absolute holy hell of having to adjust your children’s internal clocks with the changing of the time, so we think it’s a win-win-win,” the official said.

“Win for the president, win for the American people, and a win for everybody who has to go through this really inconvenient process. We’re going to keep working the bill hard.”

Ending the practice of changing the clocks could be a legacy item for the president, fulfilling something he has been wanting to do since he first publicly endorsed making daylight saving time permanent in 2019.

It’s also a priority for the state of Florida and the golf industry — making it even more personal for the president, a resident of the Sunshine State and an avid golfer. When asked if professional golfers, many of whom are friendly with Trump, could come in to help lobby on the issue, the senior official said only that there’s a “great coalition behind the bill.”

On Capitol Hill, Florida Republicans are leading the fight, with Sen. Rick Scott taking up the mantle after his former colleague Marco Rubio decamped from the Senate to become Secretary of State.

“I passed legislation as governor” of Florida, Scott said in an interview. “The moment it passes, we protect our sunlight … I’m going to make sure it gets passed this year.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), a champion of the Sunshine Protection Act in the House, said he was aware the president was making calls on the bill’s behalf.

“Everybody feels basically the same way,” he said in an interview. “I say everybody — most people … want to see that extra hour in the evening.”

As Cotton, Castor and Capito indicated, that may not be the case. The lone opponent against the measure in committee, Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), acknowledged the annoyance of the twice-annual time change but raised health and safety concerns that morning darkness would impact Americans’ sleep hygiene.

Yet this might be the first time a president has shown a willingness to expend so much political capital on the issue. And, to Castor’s point about people having bigger things to worry about, industry groups may not be paying close enough attention to try and derail it.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Family Farm Coalition said that given other pressing challenges facing farmers — “the continually delayed farm bill, corporate controlled trade policy, rising input costs paired with volatile price markets, USDA restructuring” — the potential end to daylight saving time is “much lower on the priority list.”

The surface transportation bill could run into other problems, including a fight over a bipartisan rail safety bill pushed by Vice President JD Vance that is largely opposed by the powerful freight rail lobby. House GOP leaders are not optimistic a package could land on the floor this month — and, in fact the entire issue might need to be punted to after the November election. It’s also not clear what other legislative vehicle might exist for the Sunshine Protection Act to hitch a ride, Trump’s advocacy notwithstanding.

Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called the issue “one of the least important issues that this Congress can deal with,” but welcomed any help from the White House to pass a larger surface transportation package.

“I’m encouraged that they think this is a bill that’s going to move, but I will say this: if they want this … then I hope in the end they help the bill pass,” he said.

Buchanan acknowledged it’s been a long fight already.

“I’ve been working on this thing for eight years, 10 years,” he added. “That’s how long it takes.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Cruz blocks Senate Democrats’ bid to pass AI safety bill

Published

2 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A Democratic trio attempted to pass an artificial intelligence bill via a unanimous consent request on Tuesday but were blocked on the Senate floor.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) sought to pass their Artificial Intelligence Risk Management and Security Act using the procedural mechanism, which allows expedited consideration of legislation but fails if one senator opposes it.

“The whole world has recognized that we’ve got to do something,” Warner said in a speech on the floor. “We should not miss the moment to put a safety protocol in place now.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) objected to the bill, preventing any chance of passage.

“Congress must not legislate on the issue of artificial intelligence hastily or in a closed manner,” he said on the floor, adding that it gave some in the government too much power to dictate the technology that could be permitted to be released.

As some lawmakers grow concerned over dire warnings from AI labs’ top executives about the technology’s risk to humanity, Congress’ attempts to legislate AI guardrails have largely stalled.

In the past few weeks, two other AI-related bills, the Ratepayer Protection Act and AI Emergency Button Act, were also nixed in an attempt to pass them unanimously.

Warner, Schatz and Kim’s new bill would have established a new safety board within the Commerce Department to vet models before they are deployed and set safety standards for the industry. It would also have created a reporting process for safety and security incidents.

Congress

Darline Graham rips Jack Smith for obtaining her late brother’s phone records

Published

4 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Darline Graham sought to take up her brother’s mantle Tuesday, going after former special counsel Jack Smith for obtaining the late-Sen. Lindsey Graham’s phone data.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” the South Carolina Republican told Smith as he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding that the anguish the prosecutor caused her brother “makes me sick.”

Lindsey Graham, until his unexpected death in July, was among the most vocal in his outrage over revelations that Smith secretly collected electronic data from GOP lawmakers as part of the Biden-era investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The late senator was also unapologetic in his support for a provision tucked into a government funding package, which was later repealed, allowing senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 or more if they discover their electronic records were seized without notification — language specifically designed to compensate Smith’s targets.

But Smith replied that Lindsey Graham was not a target of his investigation and was not suspected of wrongdoing — in fact, he considered Darline Graham’s brother “a patriotic public servant” who likely would have been a “witness” in his case against Trump for attempted election subversion.

“Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making,” Smith told Darline Graham. “He found them to be false.”

Congress

Federal watchdog says Trump’s $810M funding cancellation is unconstitutional

Published

4 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The federal government’s internal watchdog told Congress Tuesday that it has concluded President Donald Trump acted unlawfully in unilaterally canceling $810 million in federal funding.

In a letter to congressional leaders obtained by Blue Light News, the Government Accountability Office’s top lawyer panned Trump’s declaration Friday that he is nixing money Congress appropriated through a controversial budget maneuver called a “pocket rescission.”

“The Constitution vests in Congress the power of the purse,” GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez wrote,

adding that “Congress did not cede this important power” by enacting the 1970s impoundment law intended to stop presidents from withholding money Congress approves.

“Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” Perez added. “The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind.”

It is unclear what practical effect, if any, the letter will have on the interbranch funding fight. Outside groups sued the administration last year over a prior pocket rescission, but the Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling that they did not have standing to challenge the matter. The Trump administration has argued that only the head of the GAO is able to sue under the 52-year-old law governing rescissions.