President Donald Trump supported a push by lawmakers to make daylight saving time permanent after the Senate held a hearing on the matter.
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing Thursday on eliminating the changeover from daylight saving time to standard time each year, discussing the setbacks with the biannual time change. Trump, who has given various answers on the matter, seemingly endorsed keeping daylight saving time in place in a Friday post, calling for more light later in the day permanently.
“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!! DJT,” Trump said.
In cautious remarks from the Oval Office last month, Trump warned that there was no clear consensus on which time to implement permanently.
“This should be the easiest one of all, but it’s a 50-50 issue, and if something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” Trump said. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.
“And it’s very much — it’s a little bit one way — but it’s very much a 50-50 issue. It’s something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way. It’s very even. And usually, I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?” he added.
In December 2024, Trump endorsed making standard time permanent rather than daylight saving time for the full year.
During Thursday’s Senate hearing, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Congress should work to end the “outdated and harmful practice” of changing clocks twice a year.
“This hearing is an excellent opportunity to examine a thoughtful and rational approach to how we manage time,” he said. “Whether we lock the clock on standard time year-round or daylight saving time, let’s put our health, the economy, and well-being first and embrace a sensible approach to time management.”
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS TOMORROW — COULD IT BE THE LAST TIME CHANGE EVER?
The Senate passed a bill in 2022 backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator, to make daylight saving time permanent. However, the legislation was not picked up by the House.
Arizona and Hawaii remain on standard time for the entire year, while the rest of the country makes the yearly changeover in March and November. States that participate in the time change are currently in daylight saving time.
