President Donald Trump escalated his push to make daylight saving time permanent Saturday, singling out Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and urging residents of the state to pressure the senator to support legislation that would end twice-a-year clock changes.
In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Cotton of holding up the Sunshine Protection Act and called on the Senate to vote on the measure. Trump went a step further by posting what he described as Cotton’s cellphone number and encouraging Arkansans to call him. “Almost everybody wants ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote.
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The public pressure campaign marks the latest effort by Trump to revive legislation that passed the House with broad bipartisan support in July but has stalled in the Senate. The dispute also highlights a larger debate over not just whether Americans should stop changing their clocks twice a year, but which time the country should keep permanently. Should everyone be on daylight saving time, with more evening sunlight, or standard time, which sleep experts say more closely aligns with the body’s natural rhythms?
The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117 on July 14. The measure was sent to the Senate the following day and referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. It has not advanced since then. If enacted, the legislation would make daylight saving time permanent, eliminating the annual “spring forward” and “fall back” for most Americans. States already exempt from daylight saving time could remain on standard time.
Trump has repeatedly pushed Congress to pass the bill. In his latest post, he argued that Americans overwhelmingly want to stop changing their clocks and said additional afternoon daylight would benefit golfers, tennis players, hunters and farmers. He also cited the PGA Tour as an example of an organization that could benefit from more daylight later in the day.
Cotton has been one of the most vocal opponents of making daylight saving time permanent. In a Senate floor speech last year, the Arkansas Republican pointed to the nation’s brief experiment with year-round daylight saving time in 1974, arguing that dark winter mornings created problems for commuters and children traveling to school. Cotton has also warned that permanent daylight saving time could push winter sunrises to 8 a.m. or later in Arkansas and even later in northern parts of the country. He has argued that construction workers, farmers and others who begin working early could spend hours on the job before sunrise.
The debate goes beyond Congress
Dr. Kin Yuen, a sleep medicine doctor at the University of California, San Francisco Health, previously told Straight Arrow that permanent standard time would be better aligned with human circadian rhythms. Yuen said darkness in the evening and bright light in the morning help the body’s internal clock adjust naturally. Several medical organizations have also supported permanent standard time rather than permanent daylight saving time, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Medical Association.
Americans appear more united on ending the clock changes than on what should replace them. A 2025 AP-NORC poll found only 12% favored the current system of switching between standard and daylight saving time, while 47% opposed it and 40% were neutral. Trump, however, made clear on Saturday which option he favors.
“Having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning,” Trump wrote, urging the Senate to hold a vote and telling supporters to “LOCK THE CLOCK.”
Unless Congress acts, most Americans will again set their clocks back one hour Nov. 1 as daylight saving time ends for the year.