‘Stupid practice’: Markey, Rubio call for permanent daylight saving time

WASHINGTON — Imagine a time when we wouldn’t have to spring our clocks forward or dial them back ever again.

That is the intent of the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent in the United States, calling for an extra hour of sunlight all year long.

Senators Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, cosponsored the bill, which has been proposed during several sessions of Congress and was first introduced in the Senate in 2018.

On Sunday at 2 a.m., most of America will “spring forward” as clocks are set up an hour for the beginning of daylight saving time.

In a statement, Markey called the annual ritual “antiquated,” while Rubio called it a “stupid practice.”

In March 2022, the Sunshine Protection Act unanimously passed the Senate. It was unclear Friday whether the bill would pass the House.

“Instead of springing forward and falling back every year, we should just make Daylight Saving Time permanent,” Markey said in a statement on Friday. “The antiquated biannual ritual of toggling between times isn’t just an inconvenience—it also has very real impacts on our economy, our energy consumption, and our health. We know the sun will come out tomorrow, so let’s make that sun stay out an hour later by making Daylight Saving Time permanent and passing the Sunshine Protection Act.  You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun … and smiles.”

“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” Rubio said in a statement.

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, then-Representative Markey and Congressman Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966, extending the duration of daylight saving time in the spring by changing its start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, and in the fall by changing its end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November.

In 1985, then-Representative Markey also partnered with Congressman Carlos Moorhead, a California Republican, to extend daylight saving time by three weeks by changing the beginning of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April.

Most of the country and about 40 percent of the world use daylight saving time. However, two states — Arizona and Hawaii — and several territories don’t fall back or spring forward with daylight saving time.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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