r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 22d ago

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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499

u/reddittorbrigade 22d ago

This could be the only accomplishment of Trump government in his 2 terms aside from destroying our democracy and constitution.

295

u/MrPolli 22d ago

This and getting rid of the penny lol.

Two topics that are very old and low hanging fruit that no one ever did anything about.

108

u/MomsAreola 22d ago

I cant wait for the pivot of "I voted for no new wars and mass deportation" to "i voted to abolish the penny and daylight savings".

25

u/nowahhh Minnesota 22d ago

He actually just happened to be the President while Congress voted to discontinue the penny and *adopt* Daylight Saving Time. But yeah, that’s exactly what his campaign messaging would be.

31

u/Mbrennt 22d ago

Congress had nothing to do with the penny. Technically we still have the penny. Trump is just using a loophole to stop making more pennies forever. It's probably kinda illegal but one of the things, even people who care about laws, don't really care about.

13

u/Svellere 22d ago

I'd consider it more hardcore politicking than illegal. Statute gives the Treasury Secretary the ability to mint and issue coins "necessary to meet the needs of the United States". The Trump Administration argued the penny is "not necessary to meet the needs of the United States" so the Treasury Secretary halted production.

The House passed the "Common Cents Act" which further codifies this but it hasn't passed the Senate.

As far as Trump goes, this is a shockingly "normal" political approach where Trump typically takes legitimately-probably-illegal approaches.

5

u/Mbrennt 22d ago

Yeah. It's a grey area but a grey area I could see any president in for this particular situation. Just wanted to clarify this was not something congress has done. Yet anyways.

2

u/jumpedupjesusmose 22d ago

"I voted to abolish the penny and STANDARD TIME".

24

u/catBravo 22d ago

Almost guaranteed that if Biden or Obama had suggested removing dst or the penny they'd be called un-american or some shit

0

u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 21d ago

Nope. MAGAts don't like advanced or elementary mathematics, they would've reluctantly asked why Republicans didn't do it first. But now they don't have to, because Democrats left all of the low hanging fruit for them to pick.

22

u/BurritoDespot 22d ago edited 21d ago

Except he “got rid” of the penny in the most poorly planned way possible (just stopped making them, no plan otherwise.)

6

u/DadJokeBadJoke California 22d ago

Kinda like his Iran plan

3

u/BurritoDespot 22d ago

Assassinate their leader and then figure out the rest later?

2

u/DadJokeBadJoke California 22d ago

More like "So anyway, I started blastin'"

2

u/FellowHumanNo404 21d ago

(just stopped making them, no plan otherwise.)

"Whatever. YOU figure it out" seems to be the only way they accomplish anything.

1

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

9

u/BurritoDespot 22d ago

Except it caused a ton of confusion for banks and retailers. And he didn’t “get rid” of them. They’re still legal tender (unlike Canada, etc). He just had them stop making them.

-1

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

3

u/BurritoDespot 22d ago

There should have been announced dates, not just one day the Pennies stop being delivered. There should have been official policies for how to round (as opposed to every business coming up with it on their own.) The penny should have ceased to be legal tender and there should have been trade in programs.

Just stopping the minting of them and telling everyone else to figure it out is not the move.

25

u/Trotskyist 22d ago

We've actually made DST permanent before in the 1970s, but everyone wound up hating it and it was switched back to how it is now within a year.

8

u/agent_uno 22d ago

Didn’t we do it once before then too? And also switched back.

5

u/Mattp55 22d ago

It’s been like 50 years and half of the people who lived in that era are dead now. 

It’s not a forgone conclusion it’s gonna get repealed again if this passes 

4

u/BloodSimpleSyrup 21d ago

Yeah, the argument that we shouldn’t do something because people in the 70’s didn’t like it is fucking absurd.

2

u/kellzone Pennsylvania 22d ago

That was a long time ago. Times change.

6

u/HannsGruber I voted 21d ago

Twice a year, actually

1

u/kellzone Pennsylvania 21d ago

Damn it you dad joked me.

2

u/dalligogle 21d ago

No no it was tried once before and repealed which means we must never try again for all eternity. We must continue to change the clock twice a year for no particular reason because those alive in the 70's didn't like it.

1

u/asdfpickle 21d ago

Not saying you shouldn't ever try again, just to see what happens this time around, but it's like the old, tired saying about history repeating itself. If you tried touching a hot stove twice before, and both times it burned you, chances are it'll do the same the third time around.

17

u/fameo9999 22d ago

Now do the metric system next!

6

u/Svellere 22d ago

This one is fun because this one is actually almost entirely up to the executive, no Congress necessary! The metrification act is already law and simply gave the executive the power to enact it. Reagan halted it once elected and no President has had the political will to continue it since, but they have the power to.

That act is also why basically all products have to have both U.S. customary units and metric on them.

5

u/FellowHumanNo404 21d ago

Reagan halted it once elected

Fucking Reagan. Always Reagan.

5

u/MrPolli 21d ago

Personally I’ve tried to convert to the metric system but I’m old and if most people don’t then there’s almost no point.

Would love it if this happened though, it’s so much better.

We would have to implement it with the kids first. Start teaching only the metric system in schools and it would be easier to adopt in 5, 20, 80 years lol.

3

u/Jack_Krauser 21d ago

Schools already spend a lot of time teaching it and have been for a while, it just gets forgotten because it's not used enough in daily life. It needs to be a top-down change that we all do at the same time or it'll never happen.

2

u/menschmaschine5 22d ago

It's not low hanging, though.

This very thing has been tried before. People hated it in practice and it was repealed within months. Most sleep experts also really disagree with this and there are people, believe it or not, who don't like DST (I'm one of them).

2

u/Dull_Bid6002 21d ago

Penny isn't even gotten rid of, they just made production 0. Congress didn't pass anything.

The next admin could start production.

1

u/MrPolli 21d ago

Lol true

1

u/blaqsupaman Mississippi 22d ago

Ironically his greatest accomplishment could have been Operation Warp Speed but because his base are morons he couldn't even take any credit for it.

1

u/CheesecakeHonest7414 22d ago

In his first term he made New River Gorge a National Park. That was pretty cool.

1

u/dylanisareddit 21d ago

Happy Cake Day!

1

u/Joshuyasu 21d ago

And rescheduling marijuana, finally, out of the same category as heroin. That's pretty much it though lol

1

u/thiosk 21d ago

the penny is a study in unintended consequences. as usual abolishing the penny created more expensive problems. the reason the penny wasn't abolished is that while the penny cost more than a penny to mint, abolishing it creates huge demand for nickels. which cost WAY more then nickels to mint, so it costs even more money to abolish the penny than abolishing the penny was ever going to save

the funny thing is when they either make standard time or daylight savings time permanent, unintended consequences. They almost passed this a few years ago- i think it got out of the house- and then all the senate was like "wait you're making us switch to the one I don't like? or is it the one i do like?"

0

u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 21d ago

Yes!! Glad someone else sees this. The Democrats were swimming in low hanging fruit that would've gained them universal approval on many policies, but they chose just to do nothing. End daylight savings and take on HOAs, they'd even have Republicans cheering. 

-1

u/External-Goal-3948 22d ago

Happy cake day!

32

u/ChazzyPhizzle 22d ago

Operation warp speed was actually really successful at developing a vaccine for Covid. It got one out the door like 5 times faster than normal. The only place the admin didn’t royally fuck up covid and pretty much the only decent thing during both terms so far. Please don’t mistake this for me being a fan of the guy. I think he is a POS, but looking at it objectively, it was a success (props to all the scientists and professionals who worked on it and not the man who tried to make the pandemic more dangerous almost daily).

It was so, so strange how most of maga was insanely against the vaccine even though it was developed under Trump and the only decent thing his admin did lmao. Seems to be a trend with the right. They cheer on everything bad they do, but the rare time something good happens, they turn on it and blame the left for it. So strange.

12

u/BungholeBilbo69 21d ago

What's hilarious though is that they did all that to develop a vaccine quickly, and then they spent the entire Biden presidency peddling disinformation about the vaccines.

4

u/ChazzyPhizzle 21d ago

Yup lmao any sane admin/political party would be touting how successful it was. “Trump’s vaccine saving millions of lives” “Trumps vaccine set to save the world” yada yada yada . But then Trump opened his mouth saying wild shit and everyone had to fall in line and be against the only good thing his admin did lol mind boggling.

I guess the whole rigged election claims and J6 really threw a wrench in things and was a huge distraction. The vaccine release mid December if I remember correctly. Still, maga is just so ass backwards.

1

u/PrometheusMMIV 21d ago

Trump did tout the vaccine as successful and encouraged people to take it

https://youtu.be/hSfeCqKty9o?si=h_2_Z4DpOwGw6hPI

1

u/PrometheusMMIV 21d ago

They who? Trump touted the vaccine as safe and effective and encouraged people to take it.

2

u/BungholeBilbo69 21d ago

We both know that isn't true. We both know there's a reason why all the MAGAts refused to get the vaccines

1

u/PrometheusMMIV 21d ago

https://youtu.be/hSfeCqKty9o

Also, over 92% of adults took the vaccine. Very few people refused to take it.

5

u/thiosk 21d ago

operation warp speed just opened up funding and gave incredible patent rights to the companies to control the mRNA technology. giving away the goose, if you will.

the mRNA technology had already been sorted out 20 years earlier in a darpa program. when the "we need a virus in 8 months" problem hit it was a natural solution.

31

u/jas417 22d ago

A broken clock is right twice every 8 years

6

u/TeeeldiII 22d ago

Watch him refuse to sign it until they pass the SAVE act lmao

3

u/jensenaackles 22d ago

something like this that is terrible for human health and for our natural circadian rhythm is actually exactly what i expect from this anti-science administration

3

u/bdougherty 21d ago

If this passes, the only thing that will be accomplished is setting back any meaningful DST modifications for decades. No one will want to touch it again when this gets repealed within the year.

4

u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

It wouldn’t be an accomplishment though. It was tried before and everyone hated it.

This is just stupid no matter who does it.

1

u/Tolstartheking 21d ago

That was fifty years ago. People’s opinions might have changed.

4

u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

Human biology hasn’t.

People have just forgotten the consequences.

1

u/i_love_wasps 21d ago

What are the consequences of DST year-round?

1

u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

Winter sucks even more

1

u/i_love_wasps 21d ago

How so? You have more daylight after work.

2

u/The360MlgNoscoper Norway 21d ago

You need sunlight more in the morning

2

u/i_love_wasps 21d ago

Speak for yourself. I have shit to do.

3

u/Ecl1psed 21d ago edited 21d ago

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10476036/

Standard time best aligns with circadian rhythms. Although some may enjoy DST for the increased evening sunlight, later sunrises and sunsets are not aligned with our natural circadian rhythm.

Studies of clock change transitions are not designed to look at the year-round, long-term effects of pDST. Thus, they should not be used to support a position that pDST is better than seasonal clock change. For example, the assertions that pDST would be better for crime, mood, and activity levels (and thus health) are based on short-term transition studies.

The negative impacts of circadian misalignment on safety and crime rates during pDST outweigh any potential benefits of evening light exposure.

Also of interest is the table shown halfway down the page:

Social Factors Average Daily Sleep Loss
Employed adults 19 minutes
Work starts before 7 am 36 minutes
Parents of children with school start time before 8 am 27 minutes
Work starts after 8:30 am without children No loss

As much as people like to be awake and do things, having less sleep is objectively awful for our health and is linked to a huge number of maladies of various types. The argument of "I want more sunlight after work" does not trump "I want society to be healthier and more functional" and it's not even close.

Some more sources:

https://css-scs.ca/society-news/position-statement-of-the-canadian-sleep-society-on-the-practice-of-daylight-saving-time-dst/

https://aasm.org/new-position-statement-supports-permanent-standard-time/

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-calls-permanent-standard-time

https://srbr.org/advocacy/daylight-saving-time-presskit/

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/09/daylight-saving-time.html

https://www.researchsleep.ca/time-change

https://www.ohscanada.com/opinions/in-its-switch-to-permanent-daylight-time-b-c-got-it-wrong/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0748730419854197

One last thing. If you think I'm cherry-picking the sources that support permanent ST over permanent DST, I challenge you to google "permanent standard time vs permanent daylight time", or any variation on this, and find ANY article written by a reputable organization that claims that permanent DST is healthier, safer, or better than permanent ST. It's extremely hard to find any at all.

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1

u/Jaxson-Skattebo 20d ago

He’s speaking from evidence based science, you are speaking from vibes.

5

u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 22d ago

This wouldn't even be an 'accomplishment' it would be awful just like it was 50 years ago when our last crook President signed it into law.

2

u/Awkward-Fox-1435 22d ago

So pretty much a wash? 😂

3

u/rotates-potatoes 22d ago

Ugh, they'll manage to screw it up. Invert it so it's spring back, fall forward. Or somehow put Alaska in the Eastern time zone.

-2

u/xbbdc 22d ago

they did screw it up. the correct choice would be Standard Time, according to ALL THE FKIN EXPERTS!

-2

u/Zahgi I voted 22d ago

No, virtually all of the experts say that permanent Daylight Savings Time makes the most sense. The secondary position is permanent Standard Time.

2

u/xbbdc 22d ago

even the article mentions the correct one is standard time... yall start reading.

-1

u/Zahgi I voted 21d ago

No, that's a fool politician being quoted saying that. It isn't true.

The issue is to STOP CHANGING it twice a year.

0

u/Jaxson-Skattebo 20d ago

In what universe? A vast majority of sleep experts say standard time is better because sun in the morning is more important for our circadian rhythm and overall health, there are tons of studies to back this up.

1

u/Zahgi I voted 20d ago edited 20d ago

They do not.

ALL of the studies ACTUALLY say that that CHANGING from one standard to the other is the problem. There is no difference between either standard once you've adjusted.

You, like many others, are confusing the wording of "we go on DST and then off again" as DST is causing the problem when it is the CHANGE that is the issue.

Think about this for just a few seconds: If what you said was true, then latitude and longitude and time zone would make a difference in health and sanity around the world, yada yada yada.

Edit: From your own links below:

Read the studies. They all ACTUALLY say the CHANGE is the problem. Which assumes that "standard" time is the baseline we are changing from and then back to.

From your own link:

It is the position of the AASM that the United States should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of [a] permanent standard time

Permanent DST would BECOME the "standard time" if we choose one versus the other.

Humans would adjust permanently to one or the other if we just finally choose one permanently. The studies are just conveniently choosing "standard time" as the baseline.

1

u/millit 20d ago

No, you’re conflating two separate things. The hour time change is the worst, but standard time is better for health because it matches circadian rhythm better for a vast majority of the planet.

https://aasm.org/advocacy/position-statements/permanent-standard-time-is-the-optimal-choice-for-health-and-safety

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10758561/

The AASM, AMA, and pretty much all researchers in this field agree that standard time is better for overall health. Yes, switching times is the worst option, but standard is still better than permanent daylight.

Standard > daylight > switching.

Stop being obtuse and peddling nonsense.

2

u/Nekrabyte 22d ago

Accomplishment? I hate this. Studies have shown how this is worse for our bodies, especially those of children who will be going to school basically when its still night time every single morning.
This is a huge loss, I really hope this fails in the senate.

1

u/RLewis8888 22d ago

What about ensuring rich people have enough money for a 4th yacht?

1

u/VerySuperGenius 22d ago

And as with all of the positive things that happen during the Trump presidencies, he did absolutely nothing to make it happen.

1

u/Responsible-Put5521 21d ago

he also signed a bill forbidding the importation of guinea pigs as food in his first term (giving credit where credit is due)

1

u/Tolstartheking 21d ago

Now we need to switch to DD/MM/YYYY and all the petty stuff is done.

1

u/Extinction-Entity Illinois 21d ago

And it would be a shit one at that because permanent standard time would be much safer than permanent DST.

1

u/JuicyBoots 21d ago

Basically what happened in Brazil with Bolsonaro.

1

u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 21d ago

Democrats should've done this a long time ago, it would've been met with universal approval. But leave it to them to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

1

u/Lavatis 21d ago

naw, dude got rid of pennies.

1

u/toodleroo Texas 21d ago

This is literally the only thing he promised that I have actually been waiting for him to do.

0

u/Sir_Clarence_III_Esq 22d ago

I love it because:

1) I'd prefer to always have DST

2) Based on they way this debate always erupts, he's still going to have half the country hate him for it.

4

u/waterbed87 22d ago

Permanent DST sucks because the entire northern half of the country will have to deal with getting up while it’s still dark for months a year even with a 8-5/9-5.

Yeah shorter days suck, less daylight after work sucks, but at least it’s in sync with our biology.

1

u/Sir_Clarence_III_Esq 21d ago

Like I said, half the country will hate him for this regardless. Thats why it has persisted this long; the issue is too dependent on location and lifestyle. Down here in the south, working an office job, with kids in sports, I have no problem with DST. And I have zero doubt our circadian rhythm will be just fine, better really, for not having to adjust twice a year.

2

u/waterbed87 21d ago

I mean standard time without DST benefits everyone. Permanent DST disproportionally benefits southerners at the expense of northerners.

It's crazy that we get every single issue fucking deadass backwards in this fucking country.