Trump urges Congress to make daylight saving time permanent : NPR

President Trump is urging Congress to cross laws that will make daylight saving time everlasting — which, if enacted, would put an finish to a longstanding debate over whether or not to vary the time within the U.S. twice a 12 months.

Each the Home and Senate ought to “push arduous for extra Daylight on the finish of a day,” the president wrote Friday morning on Fact Social.

“Very talked-about and, most significantly, no extra altering of the clocks, an enormous inconvenience and, for our authorities, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!,” Trump additionally wrote.

The most recent directive from Trump follows ongoing efforts in Congress to undertake daylight saving time — together with the Sunshine Safety Act, which was reintroduced in the House and Senate by Florida Republicans Rep. Vern Buchanan and Sen. Rick Scott in January. One other Florida Republican, then-Sen. Marco Rubio, had beforehand championed the invoice, first introducing it in 2018 and reintroducing it in 2021. The Senate handed the invoice in 2022, however it by no means got here to a vote within the Home.

Each state observes daylight saving time besides for 2 — Hawaii and Arizona, except for the portion of Navajo Nation that is within the state. U.S. territories American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands additionally do not change their clocks.

Trump, who has lengthy been supportive of the change and tweeted in 2019 that making it everlasting was “O.Okay. with me!,” appeared to melt his stance when he referred to as it a “50/50 concern” in early March, three days earlier than clocks moved an hour ahead in most components of the nation.

“I assume individuals wish to have extra mild later, however some individuals need to have extra mild earlier as a result of they do not need to take their children to high school at nighttime … Lots of people prefer it a method. Lots of people prefer it the opposite approach,” he instructed reporters then within the Oval Workplace.

The difficulty was debated throughout a Senate listening to on Thursday, the place Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas referred to as altering the clocks twice a 12 months an “outdated and dangerous apply.” Cruz additionally stated whereas altering the clocks made sense within the early twentieth century, development in know-how has “drastically diminished the relative value of power in comparison with the previous.”

“Once we take a more in-depth have a look at the implications of adjusting the clocks, its influence on our economic system, our well being and our on a regular basis lives, we will see that this apply is greater than an annoyance,” Cruz, who’s chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. “The disruption to sleep patterns and the lead to fatigue can have penalties on our productiveness, psychological well being and well-being.”

Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware additionally stated altering clocks twice has a unfavorable influence on Individuals and that “it is time to determine this out.”

“The backwards and forwards between daylight financial savings time and customary time wants to vary and must cease,” she stated. “We have to cease the clock. We have to discover a resolution and keep it up.”

Whereas there may be concern amongst sleep specialists that switching the time biannually is just not good for one’s well being, some within the medical group additionally say a everlasting daylight saving time won’t be a very good resolution, both.

Dr. Karin Johnson, medical director of the Baystate Regional Sleep Drugs Program, previously told NPR a everlasting customary of time is extra helpful.

“The scientific and medical group actually really feel it is essential for us to go to everlasting customary time, which is far more aligned with the solar within the sky and so higher for our general well being and well-being,” Johnson stated.