Because the clocks are set to fall again over the weekend, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey is dealing with renewed warmth for feedback he made in 2022 that “more daylight hours” would imply “more smiles.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton has blocked the Senate from approving a bipartisan invoice, backed by President Trump, that might make daylight saving time everlasting, and the Arkansas Republican says he believes Markey’s stance is incorrect.
“Of course, the advocates for permanent Daylight Savings Time try to put, well, a sunny face on this bill,” Cotton mentioned throughout a ground speech opposing the measure on Tuesday. “Back in 2022, the senator from Massachusetts argued that it would mean ‘more daylight hours’ and ‘more smiles.’”
“For my friends from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have you ever spent a winter in Boston or Providence? The sun disappears there barely after 4:00 p.m.,” Cotton continued. “Little wonder they’ve joined the effort. These senators represent states that overwhelmingly benefit from year-round Daylight Savings Time because of their latitude and longitude.”
Cotton didn’t name Markey out by identify straight. His feedback, although, align with a press release the Massachusetts senator made in 2022 following the Senate’s unanimous approval of an finish to altering clocks twice a 12 months. The invoice stalled shortly after.
“No more switching clocks,” Markey mentioned within the assertion, “more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time. U.S. Senate passage of the Sunshine Protection Act means brighter days ahead for Americans, all year round.”
Markey, who has served in Congress since 1976, led a push within the mid-2000s that prolonged the length of daylight saving time within the spring by altering its begin date from the primary Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, and within the fall by altering its finish date from the final Sunday in October to the primary Sunday in November.
Forty years in the past, in 1985, Markey partnered with a California Republican consultant to increase DST by three weeks.
Across the nation, the clocks will return one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday to mark the return to straightforward time and extra daylight within the mornings.
Cotton mentioned he understands and respects proponents of everlasting daylight saving time, however on the similar time, he believes “these highly concentrated benefits for a few industries in a few regions are offset by widely distributed costs across many more industries throughout the entire country.”
“For many Arkansans, permanent daylight savings time would mean the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8:00 or even 8:30 a.m. during the dead of winter,” Cotton mentioned. “The darkness of permanent savings time would be especially harmful for school children and working Americans.”
Solely 12% of U.S. adults favor the present system of daylight saving time, which has folks in most states altering the clocks twice a 12 months, in response to a brand new AP-NORC ballot, whereas 47% are opposed and 40% are impartial.
President Donald Trump helps everlasting daylight saving time.
“Very popular,” Trump mentioned in a Fact Social submit this previous spring, “and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”
The Related Press contributed to this report
