Guys, the Senators Were Finally Able to Unanimously Pass a Bill: The Sunshine Protection Act

It was a defining moment in America’s history of time: the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill permanently keeping Daylight Savings Time. That’s right, you heard that. No more will you have to deal with the annoying few days where our body adjusts to shifting the clock an hour. No more will you have to go through your house and cars to change the time (another hassle nobody has time for).

As someone who has always been slightly irked by Daylight Saving, I was happy the bill passed. What I was even happier about, though, was that not a single senator objected to it. Not a single one. That means both Democrats and Republicans finally agreed on an issue. Yes, it was regarding time, typically not a contentious topic. Nonetheless, I was impressed; it feels like the parties have not been able to agree on anything, even things that I think shouldn’t be debated (like human rights… why are we arguing over that?).

What, you may ask, prompted such a bill to be unanimously passed? The simple reason: people had enough of (pretty much meaninglessly) changing the time twice a year. According to a 2019 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 70% of Americans were over the whole time-shift thing. Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio stated what all Americans were thinking: “[recently], we all went through that biannual ritual of changing the clock back and forth and the disruption that comes with it. And one has to ask themselves after a while why do we keep doing it?”

It is also worth noting that some experts view the biannual time shift as having negative health effects, something else the senators had to consider. However, many experts raise concerns about permanent Daylight Savings Time. Most agree the the switching of the clocks should end; the debate is over whether it should be standard time or daylight savings time that becomes the norm. Particularly, sleep experts argue that standard time best aligned with humans’ intrinsic circadian rhythm. The New York Times states that this argument is based on the fact that “The earlier daylight of standard time provides a critical cue for the body’s biological clocks. And when darkness falls earlier in the evening, it helps signal the body that it’s time to wind down and prepare for sleep.” This argument is also supported by the National Safety Council and the National PTA, among other groups.

The argument for permanent daylight savings time is, according to the New York Times, that “advocates of daylight saving time argue that it promotes public safety, with evidence linking the extra daylight in the evenings to a decrease in crime. And retailers and many outdoor industries have supported daylight saving time, suggesting that people are more likely to shop or participate in outdoor activities during the extra daylight hours.”

In the end, both sides bring up valid points, and the Senate believes that permanent daylight savings was the most effective choice. However, the Senate made the same decision in 1974 under Nixon, an attempt to save energy during the crisis caused by the oil embargo imposed by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. Originally, a poll showed that 70% of Americans supported this change, but soon the public’s opinion changed. For one, people were unhappy that they had to go to work or school in the dark after permanent daylight savings was passed. Even more concerning was that a number of children were fatally killed being struck by vehicles on their way to school, likely due to the increased darkness in the winter. In less than a year, President Gerald Ford ended permanent daylight savings time and it was seen as a failed experiment.

It is entirely possible that now, in 2022, Congress may come to the same conclusion that they did in 1974, and perhaps permanent standard time will be passed instead. Or maybe things will go back to changing the clocks twice a year. We’ll see as time goes on.