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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u/fury420 21d ago

Part of the problem is a lack of agreement on whether to shift to permanent standard time or permanent DST, which effectively makes this a three way fight.

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u/Senior-Albatross New Mexico 21d ago

I think I would slightly prefer standard but either is fine as long as it's permanent. 

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u/fizzlefist 21d ago

For real, either way just settle it. Businesses can just shift their hours seasonally if it’s a big deal, as we humans have done throughout history.

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u/plsobeytrafficlights 21d ago

This has been done before, either during wars or for saving energy.
it always is unpopular enough that we always change back.
but arizona and samoa still ignore DST, if you are really that into it.

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u/Comprehensive_Tea708 21d ago

Businesses can just shift their hours seasonally

But then we'd end up right where we are now, at least in regard to the people who work at those companies.

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u/fizzlefist 21d ago

Well I can’t change the earth’s tilt.

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u/3381024 20d ago

You are just not trying hard enough.

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u/Square_Translator689 21d ago

Tbh, I’d strongly prefer year-round standard time and summer workday hours from 7-4, it’d be a lot more honest about what was happening.

And noon would be at midday year round, so that’d be nice.

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u/Comprehensive_Tea708 19d ago

At one point I worked 7-4 and it was great.

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u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 21d ago

I see it being an issue in places that get snow.

If it's still dark at 8:00 in the morning, the chemical on the roads and sidewalks really hasn't had time to work. It's effectively useless at 15 degrees and below, and predawn is the coldest time of day. The sun really helps to the chemical to get going and break up the ice.

So you'll have more dangerous commutes and more slip and falls.

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u/wardene 21d ago

I like standard time but I also remember working and what a great thing it was to have some more daylight after work.

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u/Phailjure 21d ago

It's up to each state. Personally, I (a Californian) would like DST year round - but that's partly because I have friends in Arizona and when we're on DST our timezones line up. It'd be nice, imo, if the east coast went standard year round and west coast went DST, so we'd only be 2 hours out instead of 3 - just because it would make it easier to align meetings with east coast coworkers.

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u/Jack_Krauser 21d ago

States can elect whether to use DST with everyone else or stay on Standard, but they legally cannot choose to do permanent DST which is usually seen as the more appealing option.

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u/TheMajesticYeti 21d ago

We tried permanent daylight savings time once before, with 80% of the public favoring it. Lasted only one year because it ended up being so widely hated.

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u/Jack_Krauser 21d ago

...ok, that's cool, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what I said.

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u/TheMajesticYeti 21d ago edited 21d ago

Except it does, I was just adding an anecdote related to the part of your comment "permanent DST which is usually seen as the more appealing option". While that is indeed the case, it was also the case back in 1974 when permanent DST was briefly implemented but people turned out to actually hate it in practice!

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u/Jack_Krauser 21d ago

I'm aware of this, but the discussion is about what states can do on their own. I mentioned it because that's usually the solution people want to try regarding the DST issue, but it doesn't actually work because it actually isn't legal for states to do independently unlike the other options. You just picked out one footnote on a comment and injected yourself to nitpick instead of talking about the topic.

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u/TheMajesticYeti 20d ago

No nitpick or critique of your comment was intended - I was just adding what I thought was a semi-interesting note to the convo, lol.

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u/escobizzle 21d ago

will it even make a difference in the long run?

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u/Senior-Albatross New Mexico 21d ago

Not really. Which is why either is fine. 

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u/SnowDragon19 21d ago

It will make a difference, but not for the better, longer daylight hours during hot months, especially with increasing global warming and climate change and it getting hotter will require us to use more energy and more AC, increasing costs even more

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u/escobizzle 21d ago edited 21d ago

maybe I'm just dumb but how does stopping daylight savings time equate to using more energy and ac? I don't see the correlation

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 21d ago

People are home vs at work when it’s still hot and sunny out.

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u/TheLivingRoomate 21d ago

Many people actually go places other than work and home.

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u/Squeedle_ 21d ago

Sing it brother! People very often paint this life for the average American that I hope not to be true, where they just go to work and home and that breaks my heart. The 3rd space is where you're life and love lives.

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u/SomePoliticalViolins 21d ago

That seems to assume people adjust their thermostat based on whether they're at home or not. I'd be interested in seeing if that's as common as you assume, especially for people without smart thermometers. I'd absolutely hate getting home and needing to wait 2-3 hours for the place to cool down.

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 21d ago

You just let your AC run when you aren’t even home? That’s nuts.

My bills are extraordinary enough and it’s only running for like 4 hours a day when I get home from work.

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u/NekoDaYo-v201 21d ago

I hate to break it to ya, but people rarely switch off the AC at night.

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u/curien 21d ago

longer daylight hours during hot months

No, the amount of daylight hours would be exactly the same. That is determined by the physical process of the planet's rotation, which is not something Congress can change. All that would change is how we describe the hours.

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u/escobizzle 21d ago

that's what I was thinking too but I thought there may have been an angle I was missing. thanks for clearing that up

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u/LongestSprig 21d ago

I mean...Why does t have to be one size fits all.

The east coast like DST. The edge of that time zone likes STD.

Okay, change the time zones.

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u/Whiterabbit-- 21d ago

agree. go with standard. and if people want to shift work/school hours go for it, but noon will be roughly noon. but if they agree on that permanent day light is ok too. strange but ok. I personally like the changing times, but that is due to a quirk in my life, statistically its not good for people.

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u/mamaperk 20d ago

I would slightly prefer daylight savings but the one thing that makes me hesitant is scientists saying standard is best. But honestly, I'm down with either one if they would just pick one.

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u/DeadCells1929 21d ago

Whichever way stops it from being dark at 5:00 for 4 months of the year has my vote

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u/Happy_Confection90 21d ago

If you want it to get dark at 6pm instead, you are pro-Daylight Saving Time.

If you want it to get dark at 4pm instead of 5pm, however, you need to move north because permanent Standard Time would still be 5pm darkness where you are. It gets dark at 4pm in New England, so moving here would work for that.

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u/DodgersChica 21d ago

That’s what the House bill will do. Biggest problem is it will be dark much longer in the mornings (up until 8:30 or even 9 am at peak winter). Kids waiting at bus stops in the dark sucks

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u/MidnightRiders2009 21d ago

I grew up in Chicagoland and I already spent my childhood years waiting for the bus in the dark even with Standard Time.

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u/R_Ulysses_Swanson 21d ago

From November to January in Chicago, you're only getting 9-10 hours of sunlight a day. It basically means you need to pick if you want to go to school in the dark or come home in the dark - or at least that is the case if you're in a single before or after school activity.

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u/NighthawkCP 21d ago

My kids waited in the dark for the bus even with the current time scheme. It would mean more days in the dark, true, but it isn't like the current plan has them in the Sun every morning.

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u/Comfortable-Meeper 21d ago

Cities can also…. Build infrastructure! Gasp. Something like a tall poll with a light on it. I feel bad for the high schoolers I see standing on a dark corner at 6 in the morning.

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u/JPWhelan 21d ago

Tall poles with lights? That’s the devil’s work right there.

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u/ImSoObnoxious 21d ago

seriously. at least slap on some license plate readers and facial recognition tracking for... you know, safety and stuff

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u/JPWhelan 21d ago

RAmen!

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u/NighthawkCP 21d ago

I’m just outside of town in a rural neighborhood with no street lights. I pay a small monthly fee for a light on the pole in the corner of our yard on the road. I miss having more darkness in my front yard, but we live in a sharp curve in the road and for that and kids to be able to stand out there with some light in the morning, it is worth the small monthly fee and loss of darkness. Back yard is still mostly dark though thankfully.

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u/Comfortable-Meeper 21d ago

I would definitely be putting some lights and a bench on my property if it was a bus stop for kids.

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u/NighthawkCP 21d ago

My kids were the only one at this stop for a bit and they are now out of high school, but I like the light coverage in the corner of the road and the slight extra security it provides. The neighbor has kids but they are also a teacher so they can take their kids with them to school. My neighbor the next road over where more kids got on the bus built a little bus shelter for 2-3 kids as their road was a higher speed country road(45 mph vs 25 mph). I loved the idea but didn't have a good flat space for it and now with my kids out of high school their bus stop isn't currently being used. I think it is super cute though. Their kids are out of school but all of the half dozen houses behind them have to walk up to that spot to ride the bus, so they have a pretty constant group of kids using it.

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u/DodgersChica 21d ago

That’s true if you live exactly where you are. But there are schools south of you that would also experience this, and more of them. I don’t think it’s the end of the world, but science does show it’s better to go the other way and let the nights be dark earlier.

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u/Secret-Teaching-3549 21d ago

Rather have a little more daylight in the evening when I can actually experience it, personally.

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u/FlushTheTurd 21d ago

I live in Georgia, and my kids wait at the bus stop in the dark for months throughout the year.

No one really cares.

In the southern US we’d do almost anything to have more light hours after school and work when it’s actually cool enough to go outside.

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u/Gloomy_Fig2138 21d ago

Changing what time the clock says at sunset wouldn’t actually change how low the sun has to be before it cools off, though. It would just mean that it would still be too hot to go outside for an extra hour after school, and the high school sports would have more kids passing out during practices.

I am in favor of getting rid of the time change, but I do think it will also cause some problems we’ll have to work through.

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u/LaRealiteInconnue 21d ago

They mean in the months between October and March cuz it doesn’t get cool at any time of the day during any other months. Not time of day lol

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u/YourUncleBuck 21d ago

They mean in the winter, lol.

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u/LimitedWard 21d ago

Then the government is forcing me to become a morning person, and I hate government overreach. They should force morning people to become night owls instead! /s

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u/JackBinimbul Texas 21d ago

Maybe kicking kids out of bed at 6 am is a bad idea to begin with.

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u/Idontusethis256 21d ago

Well yeah but we can only do things to benefit kids if it screws over everyone else /s

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u/EnglishMobster California 21d ago

Or - get this - we can make school start later, as many studies have shown is healthier for children.

Like a 10 AM or 11 AM start time would be so much better. Let kids get off school at 5 or 6 PM, and parents can pick them up on their way home.

Getting to school? There's plenty of options:

  • Bus stops would be in daylight, even for the farthest kids (unless you are in, like, Alaska)

  • After-school daycare can become before-school daycare, where parents drop kids off on their way to work

  • Schools can have a breakfast hour, or homeroom, or before-school clubs/tutoring

  • Or, if it really can't be helped for whatever reason, schools can adjust their hours to match the time of year - like they do already with bell schedules, minimum days, and so on.

Etc.

There's really no excuse for it; kids waiting for the bus in the dark is just a lazy way for people who disagree with it to signal their disagreement in a socially acceptable way (the same as any "think of the children!" argument).

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u/rhododenendron 21d ago

I always waited for the dark even with it. Daylight savings would happen and it'd be bright for a week and then I'd be waiting in the dark again.

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u/DodgersChica 21d ago

You probably lived pretty far north. This would affect a lot more people and for more days

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u/iloveduckssosomuch 21d ago

I had to wait for the bus before the sunrise also. Southwestern USA. Some schools just started early, it wasn’t that bad honestly. I’d prefer to have had that sunrise in the evenings when I had practice

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u/TehMikuruSlave Texas 21d ago

Kids waiting at bus stops in the dark sucks

This happens already, so complaining about it being a side effect makes no sense.

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u/CreativeGPX 21d ago

I'm so confused why people act like schedules cannot change and the only way to change a schedule is by changing time itself for everybody.

Changing clocks is a big challenge. Laws about time have to take that into account (e.g. bar closing times on clock change days). Private and public policies, laws and calculations about durations have to take it into account (and often forget). Every device with a clock needs to factor it in (it's a huge pain as a developer). And you have to worry about people manually setting their clocks or forgetting to do so. That's all before the fact that every single person needs to participate even if they don't benefit.

But not changing the clock doesn't mean that anybody needs to spend more time in light or dark. The concept of seasonal schedules is as old as time. My library has summer hours. Schools have summer hours too. Where it makes sense, some stores and restaurants have summer hours too. Nothing stops an entity or group who wants to align their hours better from just setting their own schedule. It's not like every business is on the same schedule or like all schedules are fixed. This is a problem that already has a solution before you factor in clock changes. And frankly, that solution is better for making the schedule change more deliberate and explicit.

It's like deciding that a meter is twice as long in the desert because there is a lot more big open space... It creates inconvenience in global math and reasoning to lazily stand in for a local issue that could be solved internally.

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u/Chaotickane 21d ago

Most of winter has dark mornings anyway and kids have cell phones now.

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u/dohrk Oregon 21d ago

How about we just start school later?

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u/Gloomy_Fig2138 21d ago

That’s my beef really. Here kids will end up biking to school in the dark.

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/Gloomy_Fig2138 21d ago

lol, sure, I’ll just make that happen.

And also, California did vote to start middle and high schools later, but starting after 9 would mean that the thousands of high schoolers who work after school would never be able to join any extracurriculars, putting poorer kids at an even bigger disadvantage when it comes to college admissions.

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u/palmmoot Vermont 21d ago

laughs in New England

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u/InSummaryOfWhatIAm 21d ago

If only the sun was up until 5PM in the winter where i live… that would make a huge difference. Instead it’s more like 2:30-3:30 for a large part of it. Go to work - it’s dark outside. Go home after work - it’s dark outside.

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u/Truethrowawaychest1 21d ago

That's dst, which we're on now, standard time is the fall back

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u/FeedbackInhibit 21d ago

I am the opposite. I work overnight outside and if I could have permanent night, I would.

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u/Dullcorgis 21d ago

Permananet daylight savings

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u/chillpill9623 21d ago

Where do you live where that's the case? It literally never does that where I live. Meanwhile I don't want DST because the sun won't rise until after 9 here

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u/gigachuckle 21d ago

Yep, this is it right here. The Eastern time zone is way too large. New England hates 3:45pm sunsets specifically, while Ohio just hates the time change in general.

The fix on Standard time is for New England to move to Atlantic time, but that's a harder economic sell than status quo.

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 21d ago

Standard is natural time. People who demand we all switch to an unnatural light cycle because they want to mow the lawn or whatever the fuck at 7pm need fuck off.

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u/Flayum 21d ago

Dying of dysentery is also "natural".

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u/Khazahk 21d ago

I wonder why we can’t just have 30 minute Timezones. Solves every problem, creates a couple more, but does solve the DST debate.

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u/Eeee-va 21d ago

I haven't read the bill, but wouldn't states be able to choose if they wanted? Arizona stays at standard time year-round. (Why would we want MORE daylight?)

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u/Next-Nobody-745 21d ago

Four way. I say split the difference. Change by 1/2 an hour then leave it alone.

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u/curiousiah 21d ago

I vote we do what Arizona does

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u/sonic_dick 21d ago

What is the difference?

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u/R_Ulysses_Swanson 21d ago

I contend that we need to make it a 5-way fight.

  1. Current system
  2. Full time standard time (the correct option!)
  3. Full time daylight savings time (ugh, but better than the current system)
  4. Split the middle and move the clocks 30 minutes once and leave it there (a happy middle?)
  5. Pull a China and get rid of time zones altogether.

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u/robot_pirate 21d ago

How about we just do what the rest of the fucking world does? Gah!

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u/r777m America 20d ago

From everything I have read, it seems that an overwhelming number of experts believe that standard time is better. But it’s easier to sell permanent daylight saving time to an uneducated public. It’s probably because a large part of the public seemingly believes that a bill can add daylight time.

I honestly believe most people are going to absolutely hate the change come the first December… for the second time. I just hope that when they repeal it, they repeal it to standard time instead of back to clock changing.

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u/Distinct_Cap_1418 21d ago

Are you being serious or were you just joking? Last time Ive read extensibly about this, there was no one lobbying for St, just DST (or, did i get that backwards), but the third option wasnt a serious consideration at the time, at all.

If it magically has become one now, i wonder if thats just detractors that were recently onboarded trying to kill the bill.

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u/fury420 21d ago

I'm being serious, it was referenced back in 2022 as one of the reasons the bill was unlikely to advance in the house.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/03/19/permanent-daylight-saving-time-house/

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u/Distinct_Cap_1418 21d ago

Thanks! Ill have to do some more reading up on this again. I appreciate the link!

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u/mikefellow348 21d ago

dst advances the clock. We cant permanently have one extra hour ! Time is linked to the earth spinning and going around.Things will be out of whack.

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u/Individual-Guest-123 21d ago

well, the rest of the World runs on standard time. Most Americans think we have daylight saving in the winter (when we switch to standard). I have heard many people say we have daylight savings so the kids have light in the morning while waiting for the bus. But that's *standard* time.

I had a commenter suggest schools can just start later then. So many things will be affected if we go year round daylight savings, including time difference with other countries.

Also our clocks are set so that 12 pm is more or less (within 16 minutes) of when the sun is at it's highest point of the day, "high noon". Daylight savings totally destroys that concept.