Trump just called the Sunshine Protection Act an easy win.
Tom Cotton has been waiting for him to say that.
What Cotton is about to do to this bill is something every American who hates changing clocks needs to hear.
The Last Time Congress Tried This It Was a Disaster
The year was 1974. Nixon was panicking about the oil crisis, and Congress rushed through permanent Daylight Saving Time on a prayer that it would save energy.
It didn't save energy. Winter sunrises pushed past 8 a.m. across much of the country, and kids were walking to bus stops before daylight ever arrived. Eight Florida children were killed in traffic accidents in the weeks that followed.
Florida's governor begged Congress to repeal it. Senator Dick Clark of Iowa stood up in January 1974 – just three weeks in – and said out loud what everyone knew: "It's time to recognize that we may well have made a mistake."
Support collapsed 30 points in three months. They called it "Daylight Disaster Time." Congress killed it eight months in and Ford signed the reversal.
That's the history Congress is marching into right now.
Trump Is Backing This Bill Hard
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just voted 48-1 to advance the Sunshine Protection Act as part of the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act.
Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida has introduced this bill every Congress since 2018. He finally got his vote – and it wasn't close.
President Trump got on Truth Social immediately and made his position clear: "I am going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into law. It's time 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."
Buchanan and Sen. Rick Scott, also of Florida, are the lead sponsors. The Senate companion bill carries 18 bipartisan cosponsors. Nineteen states have already passed their own legislation or resolutions for permanent DST – they're just waiting on Congress to unlock the door, because federal law currently forbids states from switching on their own.
Tom Cotton Knows Exactly What Happened in 1974
The Senate is where this dies or survives.
This bill has been here before. In March 2022, the Senate passed the exact same Sunshine Protection Act by unanimous consent – no objections, no recorded vote, broad celebration on both sides. Then it went to the House and died in committee without a single vote.
Now the direction is reversed. The House committee moved first. But the bill still has to clear the full House floor, then go back to the Senate – where Tom Cotton of Arkansas is ready.
Cotton has already delivered a floor speech against it. He walked through the 1974 collapse in detail – the dark winter mornings, the schoolchildren, the reversal. He knows what happened the last time and he is not letting anyone in that chamber pretend it didn't.
The Senate tried to fast-track this bill last year. It got stopped cold.
Polls show nearly two-thirds of Americans want to end the clock changes. But buried in that number is a real divide – Americans are split on which time to lock in permanently. Sleep researchers and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine argue that Standard Time aligns with the body's natural rhythms and that permanent DST carries measurable cardiovascular and sleep health costs. Trump is pushing DST. The doctors want Standard Time. Cotton wants the whole bill gone.
The last time Congress ignored the 1974 lesson, Florida buried eight kids.
Sources:
- Amy Curtis, "Will Congress Finally Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent?" Townhall, May 22, 2026.
- Vern Buchanan, "Buchanan's Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent Advances to House Floor," buchanan.house.gov, May 21, 2026.
- "Lawmakers Advance Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent," Time, May 22, 2026.
- Tom Cotton, "Floor Speech on Opposing the Sunshine Protection Act," cotton.senate.gov, October 28, 2025.
- "Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act," Wikipedia.
- "AASM Continues to Oppose Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill," aasm.org, March 3, 2023.
