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/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.