The US House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act last week by a vote of 308-117, which aims to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide.
However, the bill faces great opposition in the Senate, where the opposition is largely divided along geographical lines.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RS.D.) acknowledged the bill’s dim prospects: “Have you ever seen an issue that people are more passionate about and that divides the country more by region than that?”
A major opponent, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), said he will do everything in his power to prevent the Sunshine Protection Act from becoming law by unanimous consent. Cotton said permanent daylight saving time means later sunrises in northern and midwestern states in the winter.
“For many Arkansans, permanent daylight saving time would mean the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8 or even 8:30 in the winter,” Cotton said.
“Three months out of the year, kids in towns like Bentonville, Fayetteville and Fort Smith would start school before the sun,” he added.
The debate over the law has created a clear geographic divide with southern states supporting more evening lights and northern/midwestern states opposing the decision.
Under this law, cities like Pierre, S.D., and South Bend, Ind., won’t see sunrise until after 7 p.m. 9:00 on some winter days. While in Minnesota, the latest sunrise would be around 8:51 AM
Congress made an attempt to implement permanent daylight saving time in the 1970s during President Richard Nixon’s administration, but the proposal proved so controversial that it had to be withdrawn just 10 months later.
The Senate’s busy agenda is also likely to make passing the law even more difficult. The chamber has other items on its agenda, including nominations, FISA reauthorization and Russia sanctions. In that light, the Sunshine Protection Act may never make it to the floor before the August recess.
President Trump, on the other hand, is said to be in favor of eliminating the practice of changing the clocks.
