President Donald Trump’s new legislative push has been announced: more daylight in the evening hours.
The 79-year-old has been urging Republican lawmakers to make daylight saving time permanent, ending the twice-yearly practice of changing the clocks across most states, according to Politico.
The president has reportedly been fixated on the issue, claiming it would benefit voters who spend “work and money” adjusting their clocks each March and November. Most of the U.S. observes daylight saving time, except Hawaii and most of Arizona, which remain on standard time year-round.
“The president has been actively engaged in this,” a senior White House official told Politico. “It’s a big priority for him,” he added.
The focus on clocks comes after Trump told CNBC on Monday that negotiations tied to the Iran war—an issue increasingly relevant to Americans amid rising oil prices and an affordability crisis linked to the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz—were “boring.”
Yet unlike the Iran war, where the president has struggled to make progress in negotiations and faced major Republican backlash after four lawmakers broke ranks to pass a resolution blocking further U.S. military action, Trump has had more success on the clock issue.
Last month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48–1 in favor of the Sunshine Protection Act, which would keep daylight saving time in effect year-round nationwide.
“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the vote.
“It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!” he added.
After major setbacks over the Iran war and Ukraine-related agenda, as well as the blocking of funding for his White House ballroom and the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the president’s push to advance even a relatively minor clock bill reflects a broader effort to secure any legislative win, however small.
The bill still needs to clear the full House before moving to the Senate, where lawmakers will decide whether to take it up, with Trump reportedly actively pushing to get it across the finish line, including by phoning Republicans directly to secure their support.
“He’s a big fan of it,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley, 46, told Politico, adding that during a call about daylight saving time, the president asked him whether he still thought it was a “good idea.”
One Republican senator who has pushed back on the idea is Tom Cotton, 49, who warned it would lead to unusually late winter sunrises and force children in much of the country to travel to school in darkness, according to Reuters.
Bipartisan efforts to make daylight saving time permanent have repeatedly stalled, with lawmakers split between business groups pushing for more evening daylight and critics warning of health risks from darker mornings, as well as concerns from some religious communities that rely on daylight for morning prayer.
Trump himself has a stake in longer evening daylight, which would follow if daylight saving time became the norm, as posting on Truth Social often cuts into his sleep. A Daily Beast analysis found that Trump’s 861 posts and reposts in May marked his highest monthly total of the term.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
