The US Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent across the US next year.
The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure that Americans no longer have to change their clocks twice a year, but it still needs approval from the US House of Representatives and the signature of US President Joe Biden to become law.
“No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time,” US Senator Ed Markey, the original cosponsor of the legislation, wrote in a statement.
Markey was joined on the chamber floor by senators from both parties as they made the case for how making daylight saving time permanent would have positive effects on public health and the economy, and even cut energy consumption.
“Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” US Senator Rick Scott said.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Americans want more sunshine and less depression — people in this country, all the way from Seattle to Miami, want the Sunshine Protection Act,” US Senator Patty Murray added.
Nearly a dozen states across the US have already standardized daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time is defined as a period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the country are set one hour ahead of standard time. Americans last changed their clocks on Sunday. Standard time lasts for about four months in most of the country.
US Congress members have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.
The proposal would now go to the House of Representatives, where the Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing to discuss possible legislation last week.
US Representative Frank Pallone, chairman of the committee, agreed in his opening statement at the hearing that it is “time we stop changing our clocks.”
However, he said he was undecided about whether daylight saving time or standard time is the way to go.
“Now, I call on my colleagues in the House of Representatives to lighten up and swiftly pass the Sunshine Protection Act,” Markey said on Tuesday.
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