Push For Year-Round DST Intensifies: What MD Lawmakers Say

Daylight saving time is set to end on Sunday, Nov. 1, but a renewed push in Congress could do away with the spring-forward, fall-back routine that has been a fixture of American life since the 1960s.

President Donald Trump is putting renewed pressure on the U.S. Senate to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, taking the unusual step of posting on social media the phone number of Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and asking Americans to call him in support of the bill.

Cotton and some other outspoken Republicans have argued permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

Proponents, including the White House, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active.

In July, the House voted 308-117 to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, Patch reported previously. States could opt out and remain on standard time if their legislatures act before the measure takes effect.

Here's how Maryland's legislators voted on the issue this summer:

• Sarah Elfreth (D), 3rd District, voted yea
• Andy Harris (R), 1st District, voted nay
• Steny Hoyer (D), 5th District, voted nay
• Glenn Ivey (D), 4th District, voted nay
• April McClain Delaney (D), 6th District, voted yea
• Kweisi Mfume (D), 7th District, voted yea
• Johnny Olszewski, Jr. (D), 2nd District, voted yea
• Jamie Raskin (D), 8th District, voted nay

Olszewski, who voted in favor of the legislation, called the change a practical reform.

“When there’s an opportunity for government to simplify life for Americans, we should take it,” Olszewski said in a statement released following the vote. “There’s evidence that making Daylight Saving Time permanent would improve public safety, strengthen our economy and reduce the documented health impacts of twice-yearly clock changes.”

In a statement released after the vote, Raskin said, “I voted against the bill after I heard from a lot of kids and teenagers in Montgomery County who were very concerned that permanent daylight saving time could put their safety at risk while walking to school or waiting for their bus in the cold, dark, early morning hours.”

Raskin called the students “the most compelling lobbyists.”

Hoyer heard similar concerns from constituents.

“With the delayed daylight proposed in the Sunshine Protection Act, many of our nation's children would head to school while it is still dark outside,” Hoyer said in a statement.

‘It’s A Lot Of Work’

Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe it—and under the bill, states can opt out of the change if their legislatures act before the bill's enactment.

“It’s a lot of work for a lot of people, running around for two days, changing all the clocks in the house,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Saturday for a rally in Vandalia, Ohio.

“It discombobulates everybody,” he said.

Cotton, who Trump has blamed for stopping the legislation in the Senate, wrote on social media that he doesn’t like changing clocks either but said, “Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter.”

Senate In Recess

The Senate adjourned for the midterm elections and is not scheduled to return to the Capitol until the week of Nov. 9 — after the seasonal time change occurs.

The United States has continuously been on a twice-a-year clock-changing routine since 1966, except for a brief period in January 1974 when daylight saving time was temporarily enacted in response to an energy crisis. Congress repealed year-round DST the following October after a flurry of complaints about dark winter mornings.

It was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.

A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening. Only 12 percent of U.S. adults favor the current system of daylight saving time, which requires people in most states to change their clocks twice a year, while 47 percent oppose it and 40 percent are neutral.

Sunsets And Sunrises In MD

Making daylight saving time permanent would mean later sunsets throughout the year but also later winter sunrises.

If Maryland adopts year-round daylight saving time, winter sunsets would occur an hour later than under standard time. Sunrises would also come an hour later, leaving more people traveling to work and school before daylight.

The earliest sunset of the year usually falls around Dec. 7. Under standard time, that will be around 4:43 p.m. in Maryland in 2026. Under permanent daylight saving time, sunset would move to around 5:43 p.m.

The latest sunrise of the year occurs sometime between Jan. 3 and Jan. 5. Under standard time, that’s around 7:11 a.m. in Maryland. Under permanent daylight saving time, the sun wouldn’t come up until about 8:11 a.m.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.