Donald Trump's push for permanent daylight saving ignores biology

By Dana Whitfield · Reporting from Washington ·

President Donald Trump wants to end the biannual clock switch with the Sunshine Protection Act, but ignoring winter sunrise patterns is a dangerous gamble with public health.

This Sunday, clocks across most of the United States will "fall back" one hour. For many, this is a nuisance. For President Donald Trump, it is a national crisis. He has used Truth Social to argue that changing clocks "costs our Country a fortune" and harms everything from crime rates to sports. His solution is the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. This is magical thinking of the highest order. The belief that a legislative pen can override the rotation of the earth and the biological needs of the human body is not policy; it is a fantasy. Proponents of permanent daylight saving time are wrong because they prioritize the aesthetic convenience of a late sunset over the physical safety of a morning commute.

The arithmetic of darkness

The trade-off of permanent daylight saving time is simple and brutal. You trade a dark morning for a light evening. In a city like Boston, the shift is stark. According to the National Weather Service, the sun will rise at 7:16 a.m. on Saturday. On Sunday, after the clocks fall back, it will rise at 6:17 a.m. If we stayed in daylight saving time year-round, that winter sunrise would push even later.

This is not a matter of preference. It is a matter of physiology. Sleep researchers cited by NBC News warn that permanent daylight saving time creates significant health risks. When our clocks do not align with the sun, our circadian rhythms break. This misalignment leads to increased health hazards and cognitive impairment.

The strongest case for the Sunshine Protection Act is the economic one. Advocates argue that more evening light boosts retail spending and reduces crime. But the economic gain of a few extra shopping hours does not outweigh the cost of sending children to school in pitch darkness.

The failure of political will over biology

We have tried this experiment before. The Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act made daylight saving time effective year-round for a trial period during the 1973 oil crisis. It failed. The mechanism of that failure is the same one facing us today: political will cannot override biological reality. Humans cannot simply decide to ignore the sun.

The historical record is a graveyard of these attempts. President Richard Nixon moved the nation to year-round daylight saving time in 1974. Congress reversed the move later that year after Nixon resigned. CBS News reports that the 1970s trial was stopped before it even reached the 10-month mark. Americans found the late winter sunrises absurd and dangerous.

This pattern is the only reliable predictor here. Senator Tom Cotton has noted that we return to the biannual change once the public experiences these absurdly late sunrises.

The cost of a fragmented map

The current legislative push is a study in institutional dysfunction. The Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate in 2022 but stalled in the House. A version passed the House in July but is now stalled in the Senate. President Trump has responded by posting Senator Cotton's cellphone number on social media. This is not how a mature government manages time zones.

The risk of this deadlock is a fragmented America. NBC News reports that 19 states have already passed bills or resolutions to implement year-round daylight saving time. If the federal government fails to provide a uniform standard, we risk returning to the chaos of the post-World War II era. Time changes varied wildly by state until Congress had to pass the Uniform Time Act to restore order.

CBC News reports that Canada is already seeing this confusion. Some regions in Ontario have opted out of the change, creating technical issues for businesses. We are seeing the early stages of a systemic breakdown in coordination.

The Sunshine Protection Act and other pending bills will expire in early January. This is the best possible outcome. We should not trade the Uniform Time Act for a policy that ignores medical consensus and historical failure. The current system is an annoyance, but it is a functional one. Permanent daylight saving time is a biological hazard dressed up as a convenience.

The workable answer is to maintain the current biannual switch or move to permanent standard time. The latter is what health experts prefer. The former is what the institutions can handle. The Sunshine Protection Act should be allowed to die in January, ending a cycle of magical thinking that treats the sunrise as a negotiable line item.

Sources

  1. NBC News: Daylight saving time ends Sunday. Here’s what to know as clocks ‘fall back.’
  2. The Washington Post: Opinion | Why daylight saving time should be eliminated entirely
  3. CBS News: Daylight saving time 2026 ends tonight. Here's what time the clocks change and more key details.
  4. CBC News: Canada braces for time zone confusion as only some 'fall back' this weekend