US House passes Sun Protection Act
FOX News Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram discusses the latest updates to the Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, eliminating the need to change the clocks twice a year.
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump wants Congress to pass legislation that will give Americans a break from the biannual crisis, but the sun may set in the Senate, where the issue is deeper than politics.
The House passed its own bill, the Sunshine Protection Act, last week to allow states to voluntarily observe Daylight Saving Time year-round, but the legislation is hitting a wall in the Senate.
And it’s not the party line that defines the debate, it’s the horizontal line that runs through the United States that divides the northern states from the southern states.
NOT ENOUGH TIME TO SAVE: WHAT’S NEXT AFTER THE HOUSE PASSES A BILL THAT CAN’T BE AVOIDED IN THE LAST TIME?
President Donald Trump wants to make Daylight Savings permanent, but a coalition of states north and south are in a heated debate over the merits of the change, meaning the bill is doomed. (Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images; Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“That’s an issue where there are heated opinions on both sides of the aisle,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., about whether the Senate will consider the bill.
“So we’ll see,” he continued. “I mean, the House has moved on now, we’ll see how far the Senate is. But I know there are people who are really willing to slow down on that issue.”
Advocates argue that this is a disruption to their states and they are starving for daylight in the evening, while opponents say it would force school children into darkness at the start of the day.
One of the main opponents of this law is one of Trump’s supporters on Capitol Hill, Sen. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who last year announced he would “remain opposed” to efforts to save Daylight permanently.
HOUSE PASSES SEVERAL TIME REVISIONS AS SUPPORT FOR TRUMP’S END TO CLOCK CHANGES
A source in Cotton’s orbit told Fox News Digital that the lawmaker had “far from a single opponent” of the bill, and noted that the bill is a major clause that requires states to already pass standard daylight savings before the Sun Protection Act becomes law.
Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that, by their laws, observe standard daylight saving time, while neither state observes permanent Daylight Saving Time. It’s not the only time Congress has tried, either.
“Congress has already tried to change it to permanent Daylight Saving Time,” the source said. “It was so hated that Congress changed the course the next year — but almost nobody knows that.”
In the 1970s, lawmakers enacted year-round Daylight Saving Time legislation. But Americans were quick to regret this change, especially parents with children who had to wait in the dark for the school bus. It was dismissed a year later.
GOP GOVERNMENT BATTLE CONTINUES OVER TRUMP’S LATEST AGENDA PUSH AS REPUBLICANS THREATS TO KILL MEGABILL
Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, in the Senate Subway during a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2025. (Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I can’t support the proposal to go to Daylight Saving Time, because it means that the children of South Dakota end up going to school in the dark around the first hour of classes for more than six months during the year,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, RS.D. “So we’re not going to do that.”
Supporters argue, however, that it’s a long-needed change.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who first introduced the Sunlight Protection Act and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a decade ago, argued that the push is “not a party issue, it’s a preference issue” that often cuts across local lines.
However, he acknowledged the objections of parents who are concerned about their children going to school in the dark.
“This is left over from World War I when America was trying to save on lamp oil. We’re doing OK on lamp oil now, so it’s not a problem for them,” Lankford said. “With streetlights, different power and things, we have – we’re in a very different situation. And I talk to a lot of people who say they’re just sick of the time change. They want to be able to lock the clock.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
And Seni. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who introduced the legislation last year, cheered the House for passing the bill.
“It’s one of the most popular things in my state,” Scott said. “You wouldn’t believe how much I get asked about this.”
However, he accepted the resistance from the North. He stated that he does not understand that “anyone can vote against it when the state has made a decision for itself.”
“Give me a chance – I mean, look, in my case, the ability, we want to do it,” Scott said.
