The Senate Must Pass the Sunshine Protection Act

On July 14, something of a miracle occurred in the House of Representatives: Republicans and Democrats passed a bipartisan bill that will put an end to a biannual nationwide ritual that two-thirds of Americans hate.

Specifically, in a 309-117 vote, they passed the “Sunshine Protection Act,” which will make daylight saving time permanent. If passed by the Senate, President Trump has committed to signing the bill as soon as it reaches his desk. This would finally put an end to the exasperating necessity of changing our clocks twice a year.

Most Americans living today can’t remember a time when this biannual nuisance didn’t exist. It was implemented briefly during World War I and World War II, but quickly phased out. It became the standardized nationwide practice we endure today after the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed by Congress. Most states adopted the biannual time shifts in order to reduce electricity use and conserve fuel. Yet as far back as 2011, a Yale study found that changing the clocks actually increased energy demand by an amount equivalent to 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Even worse, evidence is mounting that biannual clock changes constitute a threat to your health. Numerous studies have found that the twice-yearly disruption in our circadian rhythms is associated with increases in traffic accidents, workplace injuries, and even heart attacks. According to a report published by the National Institutes of Health, “Medical studies have revealed a correlation of seasonal time shifts with increased incidences of several diseases including stroke, myocardial infarction, and unipolar depressive episodes.” Stanford researchers put it this way:

“The researchers compared how three different time policies—permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time and biannual shifting—could affect people’s circadian rhythms and, in turn, their health throughout the country. Circadian rhythm is the body’s innate, roughly 24-hour clock, which regulates many physiological processes. The team found that, from a circadian perspective, we’ve made the worst choice. Either permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time would be healthier.”

It should come as no surprise that, if the frequency of heart attacks, traffic accidents, workplace injuries, and serious depression increases because we change our clocks twice a year, it also puts unnecessary demand on our already overloaded health care system. That extra demand inevitably puts upward pressure on the cost of health care, the price of health insurance, and the accompanying deductibles.

All of this raises an obvious question: Why do we continue to do it? An informal survey of your friends and relatives will reveal that no one knows.

The most common answer you will receive goes something like, “We do it so kids don’t have to walk to school or wait for a bus in the dark.” That was never the purpose of daylight saving time, and many kids still end up going to school in the dark, especially during the days immediately before and after we change the clocks.

Consequently, in March 2022, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would have kept us on daylight saving time year-round, but the House Democrats inexplicably let it die.

This time, the House has passed a virtually identical bill. However, for perverse reasons of their own, a number of Republican senators are very unenthusiastic about the Sunshine Protection Act. Included among them are Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Ted Budd (R-NC), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), and Tom Cotton (R-AR).

To be sure, many of these Republicans are strong conservatives who get it right almost every time. But they miss the mark in this case. Sen. Cotton stood on the floor of the Senate last year and delivered his usual speech against year-round daylight saving time:

“Most people don’t remember the permanent daylight saving time debacle of 1974. Just about everyone hates to ‘spring forward and fall back,’ as the saying goes. I don’t like the biannual clock changes any more than the rest of you do. But unless we are willing to adopt permanent standard time and sacrifice the extra hour of light in the spring and summer for Little League ball games and summer vacations across the country, there is just not much to be done… Not every human problem has a legislative solution.”

Cotton was referring to the “Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act” that was enacted in January 1974 and created enormous chaos. This occurred during the Arab oil embargo, and it required the entire nation to “spring forward” in the middle of winter when the hours of daylight were at their shortest. The bill was passed in a panic, poorly implemented, and wildly unpopular. It was repealed less than a year after enactment. The Sunshine Protection Act requires nothing but leaving our clocks alone in the fall.

And that is what a clear majority of Americans want Congress to do. A recent YouGov poll found that 64 percent of adults say they would like to eliminate changing the clocks twice a year (75 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of independents, and 56 percent of Democrats). Moreover, given a choice between standard time and daylight saving time, more Americans would prefer permanent daylight saving time. So, the Senate has a chance to get rid of the general aggravation and adverse health effects of a useless biannual ritual that most Americans don’t like.

This bill would likely pass with a significant bipartisan majority, and President Trump is anxious to sign it into law. Passing the Sunshine Protection Act would, in other words, be an easy way to signal to Republican and independent voters that the Senate is actually doing something useful and encourage them to get off the couch and cast a ballot during the fast-approaching midterms.

David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.