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“Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he supported the bill, but he questioned whether it was the best way for Congress to be spending its time.
“For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” McGovern said. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?”
A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.
If they had to choose one option for the entire country to use, more than half of adults – 56% – prefer making daylight saving time permanent, with less light in the morning and more light in the evening. About 4 in 10 prefer standard time, with more light in the morning and less in the evening.
The White House weighed in before the House vote, calling the “Sunshine Protection Act” a popular, common-sense reform and saying advisers would recommend the president sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.