03/18/2022

The U.S. Tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time Before

Here's what happened

On Tuesday afternoon, just two days after Americans set their clocks forward an hour for Daylight Saving Time, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent, so that Americans wouldn't have to turn their clocks back an hour. The overall effect of such a change would be that, in the winter when days are shorter, the extra darkness would shift toward the morning; rather than the sun setting in the middle of the afternoon in some places, it would rise later in the day.

"[T]his past weekend, we all went through that biannual ritual of changing the clock back and forth, and the disruption that comes with it. And one has to ask themselves after a while, 'Why do we keep doing it? Why are we doing this?'" Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a sponsor of the bill, said on the Senate floor.

But if the House of Representatives passes the bill and President Biden signs it, it would not be the first time that the U.S. has tried permanent DST.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.