Two days ago, we were talking about the time change, and how it’s the same debate twice a year . . . WHY are we still doing this? Now it turns out that might have been the LAST time we debate it.
The Senate passed a bill yesterday to make Daylight Saving Time PERMANENT. Now the House has to approve it before the president can sign it into law. It’s called the Sunshine Protection Act, and Marco Rubio has been pushing it for years.
It passed by unanimous consent, meaning it didn’t actually go up for a vote, but no one objected to it.
It was surprising, because no one expected it to pass. You could even hear Senator Kyrsten Sinema whisper “YES” under her breath when it did. (Here’s the video.)
There’s no guarantee it’ll pass the House, or that President Biden would sign it. And it wouldn’t take effect until next year. So we’ll be winding the clocks back an hour this fall no matter what. But a year from now, we might be springing forward for good.
A poll last fall found only 25% of Americans like the current system. 43% said they’d rather use Standard Time the whole year, and 32% said Daylight Saving Time should be used year-round.
The downside to doing it this way is darker, colder mornings, especially in winter. But we’d get more daylight in the evenings.
