Daylight saving time is set to end Sunday, Nov. 1, and President Donald Trump is making his protest heard, criticizing the Senate for not passing the Sunshine Protection Act that would end the twice-yearly clock changes.
"The United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it," Trump said Monday, Oct. 26, in a Truth Social post. "Most people are demanding light in the evening, but ALL want not to change their clocks anymore."
"TAKE A VOTE!" he asserted, before quoting a report by the New York Post which said that the bill "remains locked in Senate" after being passed by the House of Representatives with a 301-117 vote in the summer.
The Sunshine Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan,
R-Florida, passed the House in July but has since failed to clear the Senate, the last step before it lands on Trump’s desk for final sign-off.
The president also raised the issue at his rally in Mississippi on Oct. 26, saying the twice-yearly clock changes "drive everyone crazy," and "nobody wants to do (it) anymore."
Trump said that while people are divided over whether morning or evening sunlight is better, "100% of the people" want the clock changes to end, arguing that the process is costly and dangerous.
Joking that the clock change makes him late, Trump called the practice a "stupid thing."
"The Senate should vote it out and go back to one time and no more changing the clock," Trump said as cheers erupted in Crossroads Arena in Corinth, Mississippi.
Earlier this month, before Congress went into recess, Trump urged lawmakers to pass the legislation and make daylight saving time permanent.
"Republicans in the Senate have to get moving on what I call the 'No More Changing of Clocks Act,' officially known as The Sunshine Protection Act, a ridiculous Clock changing process that takes place twice a year, costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine," Trump wrote in an Oct. 2 Truth Social post. "People don’t want to go around changing their Clocks anymore and, besides, far and away, most people like having an hour of extra sunlight in the evening, rather than in the morning."
What has Trump said about daylight saving time?
Trump has repeatedly called for ending the twice-yearly clock change and keeping the nation on daylight saving time year-round dating back to his first term.
In March 2019, when clocks sprung forward, the president said he fully supported making daylight saving time permanent.
“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump tweeted then, according to Politico.
And in 2024, shortly before stepping into the White House for his second term, Trump again said he supported eliminating the time change.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t," Trump wrote on X in December 2024. "Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation."
However, when asked in March 2025 when he would end twice-a-year clock changes, Trump seemed hesitant to back the change, calling it a "50-50 issue."
"If something's a 50-50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it," Trump said then. "I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier, because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark. … It’s something I can do but a lot of people like it one way, and a lot of people like it the other way."
The next month, Trump encouraged the House and Senate to "push hard for more daylight at the end of a day."
The issue took a backseat, but it gained momentum again in July after the House of Representatives voted to allow states to enact year-round daylight saving time. Since then, Trump has aggressively pushed to pass legislation.
"Let's get rid of daylight saving time stuff, OK?" Trump said July 27 at a rally at a General Motors plant in Michigan. "We have a bill in, and hopefully, the Senate is going to approve that one. The House approved it, and we're going to get rid of that."
A few days later on Aug. 4, the president, in a Truth Social post, described changing clocks twice a year as "foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly."
"People are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year," Trump wrote, arguing that permanent daylight saving time would reduce traffic accidents, lower crime, save energy and give families more evening daylight.
"In other words, leave it as it is now, and never change again," he wrote. "LET'S PASS THE SUNSHINE PROTECTION ACT, ASAP."
Republican lawmakers split over daylight saving time
While Trump has repeatedly called for making daylight saving permanent, not all Republican lawmakers agree.
Trump said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, "for reasons unknown" has "held" the legislation in Congress, and went on to share the senator's personal cellphone number, urging Arkansans to pressure him into making daylight saving time permanent. "Call Tom on his cellphone," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 3.
It is unconfirmed whether the phone number Trump posted actually belongs to the senator. USA TODAY called and texted the number, but messages were not delivered.
Cotton, without referencing Trump, defended his position in an Oct. 3 X post, writing that "no one likes changing the clock, me included," but that Congress had tried and repealed this previously "once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter."
During an Oct. 5 interview, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that "there’s no clear path forward" for legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent.
"The president feels strongly on it like he does a lot of issues," Thune told Politico. "It’s something we’re having conversations about, but there’s no clear path forward or consensus on it yet."
Thune added that opposition among Senate Republicans extended beyond Cotton.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, raised concerns similar to those of Cotton's in remarks to reporters on Capitol Hill on Oct. 5, according to Politico. He said he was mindful of "safety concerns in the more northern and rural states where children get on the school bus in very early hours."
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed daylight saving time into law in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Only Congress can change this.
When does daylight saving time end in 2026?
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, Nov. 1, when clocks move back one hour to 1 a.m.
The change marks the return to standard time and gives Americans an extra hour of sleep. It also brings earlier sunsets and more daylight in the morning as winter approaches.
Under current law, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Contributing: Bart Jensen, Zachary Schermele, Jorge L. Ortiz, Fernando Cervantes Jr., Emily DeLetter, Julia Gomez, Kinsey Crowley, Marc Ramirez/ USA TODAY; Reuters
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump slams Senate for not making daylight saving time permanent
