Congress
Inside Trump’s campaign to make daylight saving time permanent
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.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
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