Facts
- The House has passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, but several senators are blocking it, and the Senate is not expected to vote on it before the year ends, the Associated Press reported on October 29, 2026, via PBS NewsHour. The article did not name the bill.
- Daylight saving time ends early Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks go back an hour. The midterm election is November 3, and several Republicans expect no vote before then, the AP reported.
- Trump has pushed hard for the change and urged Senate Republicans to pass the House bill. Earlier this month he posted Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number on social media and told him to ‘GET IT DONE!’ In a recent Truth Social post he wrote that the Senate is ‘letting the Daylight Saving Bill die.’ The AP reported that the pressure has not changed many Senate votes.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not commented publicly on the House bill but voted against similar versions in the past. Sen. Todd Young said his understanding is that the House bill is a ‘non-starter’ for Senate Republican leaders.
- Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who as governor in 2018 signed a law letting Florida stay on daylight saving time year-round pending federal approval, now leads Senate efforts on the issue. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, supports the change.
- In 1973, amid an energy crisis, Congress passed a law making daylight saving time permanent as a trial. It was repealed that October after public support dropped, partly over concern for children walking to school in the dark.
- The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine support a single, permanent time. An AP-NORC poll from last year found 12% of U.S. adults favored the current system, and almost half opposed it.
Quotes
Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and the most vocal opponent, said: “Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said: “You’d be sending kids to school in the dark.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, asked whether the bill will pass soon, answered: “No way.”
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, says Americans are “sick and tired” of changing clocks.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said of Scott’s bill: “Let’s say goodbye to 4pm winter sunsets.”
Source Read the Associated Press report on PBS NewsHour here.
Image No photo for this story.
