US Congress takes next step to make daylight saving time permanent

US Congress takes next step to make daylight saving time permanentImage source, Getty ImagesByNardine SaadPublished14 July 2026Updated 3 hours agoThe US House of Representatives has voted to make daylight saving time permanent by passing the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday. With a 308-117 vote, members of both parties approved the bill, which would remove the need for Americans to change their clocks twice a year and put the US under time currently observed between March and November - known as permanent standard time.Republican Scott DesJarlais, who presided over the vote, played a clip of The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun on his phone during the final countThe time-change issue has been gaining bipartisan support for years, with President Donald Trump pledging to end clock changes after he returned to the White House.Will US really stop changing its clocks twice a year?Published17 March 2022Republican Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida, who introduced the bill in January 2025, said on Tuesday that clock changes disrupt schedules "for no good reason".Now that the House has passed the legislation, the Senate could soon take up its version of the bill. Florida Republican Rick Scott introduced an identical piece of legislation, also called the Sunshine Protection Act, in January 2025.Since World War One, the US has set its clocks forward during the summer to have more daylight in the afternoon and to conserve electricity. The time-change is known as Daylight Saving Time (DST). Clocks roll back in the autumn each year to then follow standard time. DST, which also helped conserve fuel during the first world war, was unpopular with farmers and was repealed after the war. It returned during World War Two, and legislation standardising clock-changing across the country passed in 1966, although some states, including Hawaii and Arizona, and US territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, have opted out. To play this video you need to enable JavaScrip...