Trump

What Donald Trump and Allies Have Said About Daylight Saving Time

What’s New

President-elect Donald Trump has revived the decades-old debate over daylight saving time, calling it “inconvenient” and “very costly to our Nation” in a recent post on Truth Social.

Trump announced that the Republican Party would aim to eliminate the practice of changing the time, which has been a topic of bipartisan contention for years.

Newsweek has reached out to the a representative of Trump via email for comment.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the 125th Army-Navy football game at Northwest Stadium on December 14, 2024 in Landover, Maryland. President Elect Donald Trump wants to put an end to…


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Why It Matters

The debate over daylight saving time is not new, and Trump himself has previously said making it permanent was “OK with me.”

His vocal opposition highlights ongoing frustrations with the practice of “springing forward” and “falling back.” Introduced during World War I as a means of conserving energy, daylight saving time now faces criticism for its alleged inefficiency, health risks, and disruption to daily life.

Research has shown that the transitions in and out of daylight saving time have been associated with increases in both workplace injuries and traffic accidents.

A study from the University of Colorado at Boulder revealed that more than 730,000 motor vehicle accidents from 1996 to 2017 found a 6 percent increase in fatal car crashes during the week following the spring transition to daylight saving time.

Another study, which was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that on Mondays following the spring shift to daylight saving time, workers slept an average of 40 minutes less and experienced a 5.7 percent increase in workplace injuries.

What To Know

A YouGov poll from 2022 revealed that two thirds of Americans surveyed wanted to end time changes. A majority of those polled said that they wanted to make daylight saving time permanent and end the changes to standard time.

Health groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have previously said that it is better to do away with time switches, and that it is better to stick with standard time as it aligns better with the sun, and human biology.

Around the world, the time change practice is observed in the U.S, and around 70 other countries. But even within the U.S., the practice isn’t uniformly adopted, with two states, Hawaii and Arizona, opting not to change the clocks.

Recent legislative attempts to revise daylight saving time have gained traction. In 2022, the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which proposed making daylight saving time permanent, but the bill stalled in the House. Similar efforts in 2023 also failed to advance.

What People Are Saying

Donald Trump

On December 13, President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and prominent Trump ally, who has been selected to co-lead the cost-saving initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said in a November 27 post on his social-media site X, formerly known as Twitter, “Looks like people want to abolish the annoying time changes!”

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy, who will join Musk in co-leading DOGE described daylight saving time as “inefficient & easy to change,” while responding to that post from Musk on X.

Senator Marco Rubio

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has been nominated by Trump to be the next secretary of state, has been a leading advocate for making daylight saving time permanent through the Sunshine Protection Act, which he introduced in 2018.

Senator Rick Scott

Fellow Florida Republican Senator Rick Scot is a supporter of the Sunshine Protection Act. In a post on Facebook he wrote, “Have you ever asked yourself why in the world we are all setting our clocks back? It throws off our sleep and makes no sense! Well, it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to pass my Sunshine Protection Act and LOCK THE CLOCK once and for all.”

Senator James Lankford

Republican Senator James Lankford has advocated for making daylight saving time permanent, and said that the U.S. should “lock the clock.”

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith

Hyde-Smith supported the Sunshine Protection Act and co-sponsored it in the Senate.

Donald Trump Jr.

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the president-elect posted on X that, “Leave it daylight savings time always.”

Senator Tom Cotton

The Arkansas Republican is against eliminating daylight saving time. In an X post responding to Trump’s announcement, Cotton said, “Congress once made Daylight Saving Time permanent. It was so unpopular that Congress repealed it less than a year later. The only sensible and durable way to stop the biannual time change is to make Standard Time permanent.

Standard time refers to a region’s baseline time zone, based on its longitudinal position relative to the Prime Meridian.

Cotton added that he would work with the president-elect on the issue.

What Happens Next

Now that Trump has said he will try to end the time change practice when he takes office, it could be that there are efforts made to pass the Sunshine Protection Act. Whether these efforts will yield tangible results remains to be seen.

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