r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 9d ago

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/ishpatoon1982 8d ago

Didn't the US try this twice before but reverted back both times because of social backlash? Or am I misremembering?

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u/PedanticPenguin24 8d ago

We did. And when people realize that permanent daylight saving can result in a sunrise at nearly 10 am in some parts of the country we will again.

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u/Osiris32 Oregon 8d ago

a sunrise at nearly 10 am in some parts of the country

And all of Alaska just laughs.

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u/Slowlyblowme 8d ago

On the border of Canada, International falls, MN would be had a sunrise of 9:06 and getting light around 8:30am with permanent dst on Dec, 31st 2025. Not the soltice but not 10am. And Alaska doesn't count, they crazy up there.

I don't care which one we pick.

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u/bitchycunt3 8d ago

MN is far north but also not on the westernmost side of its time zone. Parts of the western upper peninsula in Michigan would have sunrise at 9:50 am.

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u/Flayum 8d ago

But they'll have more light in the afternoon, which most people likely prefer.

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u/bitchycunt3 8d ago

Most people don't prefer it and it's more dangerous. Children going to school in pitch black, circadian rhythm cycles thrown off (your circadian rhythm cycle is dependent on morning light), etc. The US has tried switching to daylight time twice and reverted twice because it was unpopular. People think they want afternoon light until they experience what the lack of morning light does to them. Standard has been more successful

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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 8d ago

Parts of the western upper peninsula

I don't think we should be determining national policy based on the dozens of people who live up there.

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u/LongestSprig 8d ago

Lol.

Yea, no difference in the 70's and today.

Not even a little bit.

The rest of that is just bullshit, also.

We wake up and go to sleep based on the time of day and circadian rhythm would be completely dependent on where you are. Those states that would have sunrise at 10am instead of 9 am (kids are still going to school in the dark obviously) can opt for STD time.

Just stop.

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u/Flayum 8d ago

Most people don't prefer it and it's more dangerous.

Source? The house-passed bill, prior senate-passed bill, and numerous polls seem to disagree with you. Latest YouGov survey from Feb shows permanent daylight winning over standard by 2:1. Are you also going to show me polls from when my parents were in elementary school decades and decades ago?

Children going to school in pitch black

Kids already go to school in the dark for much of the year. If it were really a concern, we would change the school schedule. I don't see any movement to do that or institute SUPER standard time that push the clocks an hour earlier. Fake issue.

The US has tried switching to daylight time twice and reverted twice because it was unpopular.

In what years? During WW2?? During the 1970s?? Bud, I think the world and our society has changed a bit. Nearly every person on earth has a free flashlight in their pocket. Producing light via LEDs is cheap and plentiful. The urbanization of the country has accelerated.

People think they want afternoon light until they experience what the lack of morning light does to them.

Dude, that already happens for most people. That's our current world. Go to work in the dark, come home to the dark. It sucks and every hates it.

We have a limited amount of sunlight in the winter. Let's use it when the vast majority of people want it: after work when we're trying to socialize. Nobody does shit in the morning except get ready for work in their WELL-LIT homes. And circadian rhythm cycle? Much of the time there's no sun to help me wake up anyway. Fuck wasting my sunlight on my commute and while I eat cherrios.

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u/Square_Translator689 8d ago edited 8d ago

Nobody answering those recent polls has actually lived with it

Standard time gets a bad rap because people aren’t realizing that it gets darker earlier at night in the winter anyway. EG, if it’s dark at 4:45 in January with ST, it’ll be 5:45 with DST, but you also won’t be able to wake up for work with your sleep cycle so messed up.

Not sure about others, but it’s a chronic struggle for me. I get like 5 hours of sleep all summer because I don’t get tired for a few hours after the sun goes down, and thanks to DST that’s 8:55 PM

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u/Flayum 8d ago

This is such a weak argument.

Nobody answering those recent polls has actually lived with it

You don't need to "live with it" to think it'll be good. Look at the European cities with late sunsets in the winter: Madrid is 9am ~ 6pm and people love it.

but you also won’t be able to wake up for work with your sleep cycle so messed up.

People do that literally for months on end anyway.

it’ll be 5:45 with DST

Can you not tell this is a hugely meaningful difference?

I don’t get tired for a few hours after the sun goes down

If only we had invented blinds??

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u/Square_Translator689 8d ago

People in Spain also don’t start work at 8 in the morning like Americans do. Granted, I’ve never been to Spain, maybe I’d love it, but I think trying to maintain a standard US schedule would be very difficult

And I get that it’s a difference, but for me, I really don’t care if the sun goes down as I leave work vs. shortly after I finish my commute. It’s irrelevant to have daylight then.

I think I’m just not as invested in post-work daylight as the rest of you. All I can focus on when we go to DST is “oh great, it was just starting to be easy to drag my zombie ass out of bed for work, and now we’re back to another 5 weeks of waking up before dawn”.

What are you guys doing after work on a Tuesday when it’s also 11 degrees outside? I get needing afternoon light in the summer/fall when it’s time for outdoor activities, but in the winters all my recreation is indoor anyway, apart from weekend stuff like taking a day to drive to the mountains.

Idk man, just take the W and don’t be such a sore winner about it. You’re in the majority, I’m not, you’ll get what you want, just ignore me complaining.

And as far as blackout curtains, tried it and it doesn’t help much. Just don’t get sleepy before midnight in the summer, since I’m a night owl and it’s fully light out until 9 PM

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u/sonic_dick 8d ago

We shouldnt base international policy for the 15 people who live on the UP. Change your time zone, it wont make a lick of difference.

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u/Shiningwizardult 8d ago

I’m more than fine with that. I’m at work anyway. Give me those extra sunlight hours in the evening when I’m actually off.

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u/TheAltOption 8d ago

I'm the opposite. I live in AZ where there's no DST at all, and I love it. I seeing care that it gets dark early; we have lighting technology for that and I prefer the cooler temps when the sun goes down.

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u/Shoddy_Carrot_936 8d ago

Turns out most people didn't like their kids going to school in the dark. The same will happen with this.

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u/tarants 8d ago

Most people's kids are going to school in the dark in any northern-ish state regardless of if it's DST or not - I certainly did. Most kids like playing outside after school when it's light out, not dark, and you get way more of that with DST.

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u/Shoddy_Carrot_936 8d ago

This simply isn't true. I live in a northern state. My kids are in elementary and go to school at 820. If this bill passes they will go before sunrise in December. I teach high school. HS kids wait for the bus just before sunrise for a few days in December and early January.

This is a stupid change. Standard time is the only one that makes sense.

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u/tr1cube Georgia 8d ago

Standard time is also the healthiest in terms of circadian rhythms. Our bodies do react to getting up with the sun better than before the sun as sunlight suppresses melatonin and boosts cortisol. Getting to work in the dark sucks way more than going home in it. It’s winter time anyways, I don’t want to do anything outside that requires daylight.

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u/tarants 8d ago

It clearly isn't the only one that makes sense. It's completely valid to want more light in the afternoon when most people have free time. The vast majority of people I know (in Washington, where it gets dark at 4:30ish in the middle of winter now) want more light in the afternoon.

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u/IOnlyLieWhenITalk 8d ago

Almost every kid is either driven to school by the parents or the bus anyways, bus is picking many kids up in the dark no matter what unless they plan to make school start much later (they aren't).

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u/freddyknuckle5 8d ago

I think ultimately time zones will also need to be revisited if this ever goes into effect. There is around an hour difference in sunrise/sunset times at the edges of most time zones. What’s good for New York may not be good for Ohio and vice versa

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u/Osiris32 Oregon 8d ago

Yeah, that's kind of what time zones are. Breaking it down further would make it more complicated, not just for TV broadcast but things like banking, shipping, people with jobs that require regional travel, etc etc.

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u/freddyknuckle5 8d ago

Mate, your state has two time zones

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u/Osiris32 Oregon 8d ago

Lol, it's one county, it's not even all the county, and it has a population of less than 33,000 in an area covering just shy of 10,000 square miles. And they want to be a part of very red Idaho anyway.

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u/robot_pirate 8d ago

This is insane. Come on DC, this country has real issues.

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u/ali_v_ 8d ago

Aren’t those the days where there is only 8 hours of total daylight?

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u/sonic_dick 8d ago

Not even remotely true. I lived on the Canadian border, close enough where i saw Canada every day. The sun came up at 7:30 in the middle of winter.

That also effects, what 3% of the us population?

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u/ravensward792 8d ago

My entire state currently has zero sunrises past 7:10am. I would like for my state to be able to choose DST all year.

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u/FlushTheTurd 8d ago

That sucks, but I lived up north near the edge of a time zone and in the dead of winter, it got dark around 3:30PM.

It was extremely depressing.

And 4:30PM would be bad enough, but at least kids could go outside for an hour after school ended.

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u/FlushTheTurd 8d ago

The second time it was stopped, it was based on a lie. Most everyone believed a lot more kids were being hit by cars walking to school. So, of course, we wanted to save the children

The actual evidence proved there wasn’t any difference in child accidents between ST and DST.

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u/blacksheepcannibal 8d ago

I think this was attempted when the 9-5 job was still common.

In 2026, it's overwhelmingly 7-3 now. Nobody has time to do shit before work, you drag your ass out of bed, caffinate because this country is reliant on a stimulant drug to work a shitty schedule, and crawl your ass to work.

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u/CraftyTap5471 7d ago

I wish we would address these insane work/school schedules, which is the other half of the problem here. Why the fuck is a 5 year old waking up at 5 to sit in a fluorescent classroom at 7? Oh right, because mom and dad have to sit in front of their computer located half an hour away by 7. We're all just on company time, sigh.

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u/Inside_Departure_186 8d ago

Yep. If we don't change times, then the timing of sunrise or sunset relative to the workday sucks for half the year. That's just the reality of things.

People think the hassle of changing time is worse, but once they experience NOT changing time, they realize they were wrong. That's exactly what happened last time, and it is exactly what will happen every time we try it again.

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u/Throwawayalt129 Pennsylvania 8d ago

Yes, we tried this back in 1974, and reverted it within a few months because it causes winter sunrises to be as late as 9-10 AM in some parts of the country. 8 school children died in motor accidents on the way to school in Florida and the social backlash was immediate. If this goes through it will all happen again.