{"id":23672,"date":"2026-06-05T08:47:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/inside-trumps-campaign-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:47:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:47:42","slug":"inside-trumps-campaign-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/inside-trumps-campaign-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Trump\u2019s campaign to make daylight saving time permanent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump is setting up his latest loyalty test on Capitol Hill \u2014 and it\u2019s not about the war in Iran, Cabinet nominees or his White House ballroom.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Trump has fixated on this issue, believing it resonates with voters who are burdened by \u201call of the work and money\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president has been actively engaged in this,\u201d the senior official said in an interview. \u201cIt’s a big priority for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also made personal phone calls to Republicans on the matter. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a big fan of it,\u201d said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) of a call he received from Trump about making daylight saving time permanent. \u201cHe said, \u2018Do you still think this is a good idea?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, I do, I think it\u2019s a great idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The president took a victory lap on social media following the committee vote, saying enactment of the so-called Sunshine Protection Act \u2014 the text of which was included in the broader measure \u2014 would be a \u201cvery nice WIN for the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 and some Jewish constituents whose daily morning prayers are required to happen in daylight.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cmight go three, four, even five hours in the morning without seeing the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cotton declined to comment on the latest Trump push to pass the bill. But he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already heard from people over here who don\u2019t like it,\u201d she said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that it comes up from time to time, but when I’m at home, people are not talking to me about this whatsoever,\u201d said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. \u201cThey’re talking about the high-income cost of gas, high cost of groceries, the fact that health care has been ripped away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the daylight saving time amendment \u201cprobably should have [been] debated in the light of day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has talked about the economic argument for ending the twice-a-year clock adjustments, recently writing on Truth Social<\/a>that \u201cit\u2019s time that people can stop worrying about the \u2018Clock,\u2019 not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ending daylight saving time, he added, \u201cgives you a longer, brighter Day \u2014 And who can be against that \u2014 This is an easy one!\u201d <\/p>\n

Other than that, it\u2019s 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\u2019s case is grounded in personal health and the economy \u2014 and that every parent of a small child would agree it\u2019s a drag on sleep schedules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019re a parent, the absolute holy hell of having to adjust your children\u2019s internal clocks with the changing of the time, so we think it\u2019s a win-win-win,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWin for the president, win for the American people, and a win for everybody who has to go through this really inconvenient process. We\u2019re going to keep working the bill hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/u><\/a> making daylight saving time permanent in 2019.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a priority for the state of Florida and the golf industry \u2014 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\u2019s a \u201cgreat coalition behind the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI passed legislation as governor\u201d of Florida, Scott said in an interview. \u201cThe moment it passes, we protect our sunlight \u2026 I\u2019m going to make sure it gets passed this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody feels basically the same way,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cI say everybody \u2014 most people \u2026 want to see that extra hour in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Cotton, Castor and Capito indicated, that may not be the case. The lone opponent against the measure in committee, Rep. Nanette Barrag\u00e1n (D-Calif.), acknowledged the annoyance of the twice-annual time change but raised health and safety concerns that morning darkness would impact Americans\u2019 sleep hygiene.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s point about people having bigger things to worry about, industry groups may not be paying close enough attention to try and derail it.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Family Farm Coalition said that given other pressing challenges facing farmers \u2014 \u201cthe continually delayed farm bill, corporate controlled trade policy, rising input costs paired with volatile price markets, USDA restructuring\u201d \u2014 the potential end to daylight saving time is \u201cmuch lower on the priority list.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 and, in fact the entire issue might need to be punted to after the November election. It\u2019s also not clear what other legislative vehicle might exist for the Sunshine Protection Act to hitch a ride, Trump\u2019s advocacy notwithstanding.<\/p>\n

Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called the issue \u201cone of the least important issues that this Congress can deal with,\u201d but welcomed any help from the White House to pass a larger surface transportation package.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m encouraged that they think this is a bill that’s going to move, but I will say this: if they want this \u2026 then I hope in the end they help the bill pass,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Buchanan acknowledged it\u2019s been a long fight already.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working on this thing for eight years, 10 years,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s how long it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump is setting up his latest loyalty test on Capitol Hill \u2014 and it\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}