President-elect Donald Trump has declared his plan to end daylight saving time, describing it as outdated, inconvenient, and a burden on the economy.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump vowed to make eliminating daylight saving time a top priority upon taking office.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” Trump wrote. “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Daylight saving time, introduced in 1942 as a wartime measure to conserve energy by maximizing daylight, has been a subject of criticism for decades. The practice requires Americans to adjust their clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall.
Critics argue that the biannual time changes disrupt sleep, reduce productivity, and provide minimal energy savings in today’s world.
Trump’s announcement aligns with ongoing legislative efforts to abolish daylight saving time. Notably, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill led by Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, proposed making daylight saving time permanent to eliminate the twice-yearly clock changes. Despite its support, the bill stalled in Congress, leaving the issue unresolved.
Rubio, recently nominated by Trump to serve as secretary of state, has been a vocal advocate for ending the practice. Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott also supports the movement, stating, “Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary.”
This is not the first time Trump has addressed the topic. In 2019, while serving as president, Trump expressed openness to making daylight saving time permanent, stating in a tweet, “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!”
As Trump prepares to assume office, his renewed effort to eliminate daylight saving time is likely to draw significant attention from both lawmakers and the public, reigniting a decades-long debate.
While it remains uncertain whether Congress will act on Trump’s proposal, the push for reform highlights the increasing momentum to tackle an issue that has long divided Americans.
