House passes bill to make daylight saving time permanent

The House has passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent across most of the United States, ending the practice of changing clocks twice a year. The bill now heads to the Senate.

Lawmakers approved the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday in a 308-117 vote. President Trump supports the measure and has said he will work to have it signed into law.

Under the bill, daylight saving time would become the country’s permanent standard time, resulting in later sunrises and sunsets during the winter. Clocks would no longer be moved forward in the spring or back in the fall.

States and areas that are already exempt from daylight saving time would be allowed to remain on their current standard time or adopt the new permanent time. Hawaii and most of Arizona currently do not observe daylight saving time.

Trump called permanent daylight saving time the “far more popular alternative” in May, saying it would provide longer, brighter evenings while eliminating the costs associated with changing clocks twice a year.

The U.S. has previously tried year-round daylight saving time. Congress adopted it during the energy crisis in January 1974, but the experiment was cut short later that year amid complaints about children traveling to school in darkness during winter mornings.

The current system largely dates to the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which established uniform dates for changing clocks while allowing states to opt out of daylight saving time.

A previous version of the Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate without opposition in 2022 but stalled in the House. The latest measure will need Senate approval before it can be sent to Trump for his signature.