Fall back, spring ahead – or not.
President Donald Trump would be OK with not changing his clocks twice a year for Daylight Saving Time, that time of year when one loses a precious hour of sleep on the second Sunday in March.
“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.
Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2019
Daylight Saving Time (DST) took place this past Sunday, prompting most Americans to set their clock forward at 2 a.m. The time change is widely known as an annoyance for its inconvenience and the disappearing hour that cuts back on one’s sleep schedule every year toward the end of winter.
To change the law would require the power of Congress, which could soon vote on such a measure.
Just last week, Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, as well as Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, introduced a bill called “Sunshine Protection Act of 2019” that calls for enacting DST permanently, thus ending the time change that takes place in November.
People across America are waking up this morning grumpy at losing an hour because of “springing forward” to daylight saving time.
This week I once again filed my bill to end this “obsolete, confusing and unhealthy” practice. https://t.co/zwmOGBFJpj
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 10, 2019
Each year in modern history, millions of citizens have taken to online petitions to voice their discontent with DST. Websites such as EndDaylightSavingTime.org and StandardTime.com make the case to eliminate the practice.
Most of the dissenters cite scientific research showing the negative implications of DST. Some of those include negative affects on sleep patterns, emotions and behaviors, which some say makes people less productive, thus costing money. Others argue that the prolonged darkness brought on by DST makes people less safe due to crime and vehicle accidents that take place during night hours.
DST now begins every second Sunday in March, after a series of changes since it was implemented.
Benjamin Franklin is thought to be the one who originally thought up Daylight Saving Time. In an essay titled “An Economic Project” he penned in 1784, he lamented the cost spent on burning candles.
“An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles,” Franklin wrote.
However, it did not become practiced until 1918 during World War I, “as a way of conserving fuel needed for war industries and of extending the working day,” according to the Library of Congress.
The law was repealed just a year later after the war was over, although time zones created by the law have remained.
When World War II came about, Congress reestablished DST on Jan. 20, 1942. It was again repealed in 1945 after the war ended.
The Uniform Time Act was signed into law in 1966 by former President Lyndon B. Johnson, and it enacted a permanent DST across the nation. The dates of the time changes were later amended by President Ronald Reagan after 20 years, and again by President George W. Bush nearly 20 years after that.
