This weekend, we spring forward and turn our clocks ahead one hour to kick off daylight saving time.
As is always the case when the clocks change, folks around the country and online initiate conversations about the need to turn daylight saving time into our permanent modus operandi instead of ending it every fall (known as going to standard time). This is mostly because daylight saving time guarantees more sunshine toward the end of the day, a fact that experts stress can help with seasonal depression.
Talks have gotten so intense that politicians have even introduced bills attempting to make daylight saving irreversible. Back in March 2022, the United States Senate went as far as passing the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021.
“The call to end the antiquated practice of clock changing is gaining momentum throughout the nation,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at the time in an official statement.
In 2023, Rubio re-introduced what is now referred to as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 to the 118th Congress. “This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” the GOP lawmaker said in a statement. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done.”
