U.S. Senate Votes To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

Twice a year we hear the grumblings of people who are sick and tired of resetting their clocks for "Daylight Saving Time."

Several states, including Wyoming, have passed bills saying that they would opt out of the two times a year we change those clocks if the other stations did it too. But nobody has actually moved on it.

The Senate on Tuesday 03/15/22 approved a proposal to make daylight saving time permanent. That sounds weird when they say it that way.

Better to say, it would put an end to ever having to change your clock again.

If this passes the House and signed by President Biden, would mean Americans would never again have to "spring forward or fall back."

Right away there are those who object to having to get up in the dark during certain times of the year. Well, that's better than what we have been doing.

There are actual studies out there that show people feel a bit off for a few days after the twice-a-year clock change.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the lead sponsor of the proposal spoke of eliminating "seasonal affective disorder" in the late fall and early winter to more daylight for school sports.

“There’s strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has, there’s an increase in heart attacks, car accidents and pedestrian accidents,” he said on the Senate floor...

“The benefits of daylight saving time has been accounted for in the research: Reduced crime as there is light later in the day, decrease in seasonal depression that many feel during standard time and the practical one,” he added.

“In a country we desperately want our kids outside, playing, doing sports, not just to sit in front of a TV playing video games all day. It gets tough in many parts of the country to be able to do that. What ends up happening is for the 16 weeks of the year, if you don’t have a park or outdoor facility with lights, you’re basically shut down at 5 p.m., in some cases 4 p.m.,”

This is as close as the nation has ever come to getting rid of daylight saving time.