The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 on July 14 by a substantial margin of 308-117, advancing legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent year-round. The bill now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers are being urged to more carefully examine the practical consequences of eliminating the twice-yearly clock changes.
The proposed change would effectively shift the entire country one time zone eastward, a move that critics say works well during summer months but would create significant problems during winter. Under permanent daylight saving time, the sun would rise substantially later during the coldest, darkest months of the year.
Dark Winter Mornings Across the Nation
According to data from timeanddate.com, the impact would vary dramatically by location. In Bismarck, North Dakota, the sun would not rise before 8:45 a.m. for 94 consecutive days — more than three months — from November 15 through February 16. Detroit would experience 59 consecutive days of sunrises after 8:45 a.m., while Seattle would see 47 such days.
Even cities in more southern latitudes would face extended periods of late sunrises. Atlanta would not see the sun before 8:30 a.m. for 61 consecutive days, from December 8 to February 6. In Miami, where the change might seem most practical given the city’s southern location and current early sunrise times, the sun would not rise before 8:00 a.m. for 56 consecutive days.
On Christmas morning under permanent daylight saving time, sunrise would not occur until 9:12 a.m. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 9:20 a.m. in Missoula, Montana, and 9:34 a.m. in Minot, North Dakota.
Senator Raises Safety Concerns
Sen. Tom Cotton has warned that applying daylight saving time year-round would “push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour” and that “kids would either walk to school in the pitch black or schools would have to push back start times.”
The current system, which applies daylight saving time for approximately eight months of the year — from early March through October — was designed to balance competing interests. During summer months when days are naturally long, the system shifts an hour of morning sunlight to the evening, when most Americans prefer it. A 15-hour June day that would naturally run from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. becomes 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. instead.
The system works because few Americans want to be awakened by sunlight at 4:30 in the morning, while most value extended evening daylight during warmer months. But during winter, when days are short, the same shift creates problems. A nine-hour December day that would naturally run from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. would instead begin at 8:30 a.m.
Lessons from a Failed Experiment
The United States has attempted permanent daylight saving time before. In 1973, Congress passed similar legislation implementing daylight saving time year-round, but the experiment lasted only 10 months before being repealed due to public outcry.
Shortly after that legislation took effect, Utah Congressman Gunn McKay stated that “instituting it on a year-around basis is an obvious mistake. There have been needless accidents and fatalities in the mornings with children going to school in the dark.”
Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, who introduced the current Sunshine Protection Act in the House, has claimed that “the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health” and “reduce traffic accidents.” However, critics question how requiring people to wake up and commute in darkness during winter months could achieve either outcome.
The Alternative: Permanent Standard Time
Some have proposed eliminating daylight saving time altogether and adopting permanent standard time instead. This approach would present the opposite problem — excessive morning sunlight during summer achieved at the expense of evening hours. In New York City during June, the sun would rise before 4:30 a.m. throughout the entire month while setting around 7:30 p.m., compared to the current 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. schedule.
Under standard time, noon represents the moment when the sun is directly overhead — the highest point in its daily path across the sky. Daylight saving time essentially relabels that moment as 1 p.m., shifting clock time forward by one hour relative to solar time.
The current compromise requires Americans to change their clocks on two nights out of 365 days per year — a modest inconvenience that enables optimal sunlight distribution for both summer and winter conditions. As the Senate considers the House-passed legislation, lawmakers face the question of whether eliminating that small inconvenience is worth the tradeoff of dark winter mornings across much of the country.
Source: thefederalist.com — https://thefederalist.com/2026/07/23/congress-should-think-twice-before-messing-with-our-clocks/