For decades, Americans have faithfully followed a strange ritual twice each year – moving their clocks forward in spring and backward in fall, disrupting sleep schedules and daily routines in service to a century-old policy. Like many government traditions, this one continues not because it makes sense, but because changing it requires political will that has been sorely lacking in Washington.
While most Americans grumble through bleary-eyed mornings after “springing forward” or adjust to early darkness after “falling back,” lawmakers have mostly talked in circles about fixing the problem. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans want to pick one time and stick with it, yet year after year, the tedious time shuffle continues. Isn’t it amazing how our government can complicate something as simple as telling time?
But now, this twice-annual disruption might finally be approaching its final hour. In a remarkable display of bipartisanship that has become increasingly rare in Washington, senators from both parties are coming together to potentially end a practice that many Americans have long considered outdated and unnecessary.
In a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Chairman Ted Cruz and his colleagues from across the aisle discussed the surprising common ground they’ve found on ending the biannual clock-changing ritual. The evidence presented made clear that what started as an energy-saving measure has become a health and economic burden instead – exactly the kind of government overreach conservatives have warned about for years.
From ‘Fox News’:
“Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep,” Cruz said, as Dr. Karin Johnson spoke about the effects on people’s circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation. “This leads to increased risks of health problems, including higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and even car accidents immediately following the time change,” Cruz added.
The evidence against our current system has been mounting for years. Health experts testified that the time changes disrupt humans’ natural circadian rhythms, leading to increased heart attacks, workplace accidents, and even traffic fatalities in the days following the transitions. What was intended as an energy-saving measure a century ago now appears to be causing more harm than good. I’ve seen this firsthand – my own productivity plummets for days after each time change, and I’m certainly not alone.
What remains undecided is which time standard to adopt permanently – daylight saving time or standard time. This detail has become the sticking point that has prevented previous legislation from succeeding. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told colleagues that “President Trump is on board to lock the clock,” potentially giving this effort the executive support it has lacked in previous attempts.
Trump himself has acknowledged the complexity, calling it a “50/50 issue” in recent Oval Office remarks. “If something is a 50/50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it. I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark,” the president observed. Unlike his predecessors who dithered on this issue, Trump seems ready to cut through the nonsense and make a decision.
The hearing illuminated the competing interests at play. Golf course owners and outdoor recreation businesses favor permanent daylight saving time for the extended evening light, while sleep medicine specialists and certain agricultural interests advocate for permanent standard time as more aligned with natural human rhythms.
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware highlighted the need for state-specific solutions: “What works in my home state of Delaware may not work in Washington state,” she said. “It’s time to figure this out. People across our country are tired of the constant cycle of falling back and springing forward.”
And that’s really the heart of the matter. Americans are indeed tired – both figuratively of the policy and literally from its effects. Previous attempts to end clock-changing have come tantalizingly close to success, including the Senate’s unanimous passage of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, which later stalled in the House. Can you believe we’ve been stuck with this outdated practice even when everyone agreed it should end? That’s big government inertia for you!
Many of us have experienced the foggy-headed mornings after losing that precious hour of sleep in March, or felt the disappointment of darkness arriving before dinner in November. I’ve spent countless hours consoling cranky children and adjusting schedules twice yearly – time I’ll never get back, all thanks to government meddling with our clocks.
With President Trump’s backing and rare bipartisan momentum, we might finally see this common-sense reform become reality. For a nation desperately seeking areas of agreement, ending the archaic practice of changing our clocks seems like low-hanging fruit. Frankly, if Washington can’t handle something this straightforward, what hope do we have for the really tough challenges?
As Senator Cruz aptly noted during the hearing, what started with good intentions has outlived its usefulness. Sometimes the most meaningful changes aren’t the most glamorous or headline-grabbing – they’re the practical improvements that make everyday life just a little bit easier for American families.
Perhaps in the near future, we can finally stop the clock-changing madness and allow Americans to live their lives without government-mandated disruption twice a year. That would be a victory for common sense that transcends party lines – and one that’s long overdue.
I, for one, won’t miss the twice-yearly scramble to reset every appliance in my house. Will you?
