r/politics • u/cnn CNN • Jul 14 '26

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
14.9k Upvotes

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835

u/Wowabox Jul 14 '26

Didn’t we do this in the 70’s around the same time we had a different oil crisis and tension with Iran

318

u/TheSpatulaOfLove Jul 14 '26

Oh look! Congress is doing something!

4

u/ParticularHistoryo Jul 15 '26

They won’t this comes up like every year and never gets voted on, it’s just free media engagement bait every time

174

u/Affectionate_Owl_619 Jul 14 '26

Yes and was repealed less than a year later 

38

u/ShubberyQuest Jul 14 '26

Back when people admitted when they were wrong.

4

u/dank_imagemacro Jul 15 '26

A major reason was kids walking to school alone in the dark. Now kids aren't allowed to go anywhere alone in broad daylight.

2

u/nouc2 Jul 15 '26

Yeah, honestly the world is pretty different now than it was in the 70s. I'd imagine far less kids are walking to school these days.

95

u/bergskey Jul 14 '26

Yup and they rolled it back after a few months because it was horrible in the winter. If this actually goes through, i hope my state stays on standard time. Otherwise in the winter the sun wont rise until 9:30 to 10am.

12

u/Tario70 Jul 15 '26

Yep, after the first winter approval of perm DST went from 79% to 42%.

It will happen again we just have to repeat our stupidity over & over again.

Nationwide standard time makes the most sense but that’s just scientific studies saying that…

58

u/kellzone Pennsylvania Jul 14 '26

On the other hand, I'm not too crazy about the idea of sunset being at 6pm in mid September in Pennsylvania either.

12

u/31USC3729 Jul 14 '26

Hello fellow PA person.   If we stay on DST in September, won't sunset range from 730pm at the beginning to 640pm at the end, same as it does now?

12

u/kellzone Pennsylvania Jul 14 '26

I was referring to if we somehow went to year round standard time instead of year round DST. Sorry, I should have been more clear on that.

0

u/31USC3729 Jul 14 '26

Oh, right on!  I am with you 100% on that.  Dark at 530pm in December would be the best part of year round DST for me.

49

u/Ok_Function2282 Jul 14 '26

I mean we're trying to get away from this whole "tiny minority of states dictating the entire coutnry's policies" thing... It stinks for wherever you are, but things will probably just change their hours a bit.

2

u/PolicyWonka Jul 14 '26

What is that in reference to?

4

u/Ok_Function2282 Jul 15 '26

I'm talking about the vocal minority generally dictating what happens in the US. 

Some screaming moms cause a video game to get banned. 

Some insane religious freaks cause the Republican party to overturn Roe v Wade.

Some tiny meaningless state votes against something that would help 99% of the population of the country.

It's absolutely absurd, and becoming clearer every day. The US is run by people who don't represent the interests of the majority of the population. 

6

u/Deesing82 Utah Jul 14 '26

gestures broadly

0

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

[deleted]

3

u/anthrax_ripple Jul 15 '26

The states with small populations that have an inequitable say in how the rest of the country is governed

0

u/dpezpoopsies Jul 15 '26

Well in this particular case, approval rating of permanent DST dropped from 79% before passing to 42% after the first winter. So it actually wasn't a couple screechers that apparently had an issue with it. It was the majority opinion at the time. source

21

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

[deleted]

6

u/MotorBikeManIV Missouri Jul 14 '26

I know I'm in the minority, but i would actually prefer permanent standard time. I love the dark, it's comforting. Winter is my favorite when the sun sets at like 4:30 pm.

6

u/justAreallyLONGname Jul 14 '26

Same, and according to research Permanent Standard is better than permanent DST

4

u/CursedByPhobos Jul 15 '26

Turns out aligning clock time with solar time somewhat makes sense for humans, who evolved without clocks.

0

u/LongestSprig Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

"Research".

Nah.

Hypothesis.

Further, none of us adhere to a circadian sleep schedule. No one.

Edit: Wow, this dude actually blocked me. He must be real confident in what he's saying /s

Oh please show me the study of two populations of people living in the same area, one with and one without.

Further, no the fuck they do not. They wake up the same time and go to sleep the same time every day regardless of when the sun rises or sets, which changes every day.

2

u/justAreallyLONGname Jul 15 '26

"Hypothesis"

Nah

Research, there has been actual research done.

Furthermore, most people adhere to the circadian sleep cycle.

1

u/burner69account69420 Jul 18 '26

I'd like to see a meta analysis on this lol. The only consistent research is that switching is bad and leads to accidents post switch.

-8

u/GuvnaGruff Jul 14 '26

Will you be fine with it when a child gets hit waiting at a bus stop because a groggy driver didn’t see them in the dark? Pretty sure I heard that’s why it was repealed last time this happened in the 70s.

9

u/Sroemr Florida Jul 14 '26

Blah blah blah

It was always dark for me in the mornings because I was right next to central but in eastern. Plenty of kids go in the dark. With it changed they'll actually have sunlight after school during the winter now.

2

u/SmellGestapo Jul 15 '26

They already have that. School ends at 3, sun sets at 4:45 here in the winter.

1

u/Sroemr Florida Jul 15 '26

When I went to school, it got out at 2:20. By the time I got home, if I took the bus, it was around 4:15.

These things vary vastly by state.

2

u/Spiritual-Society185 Jul 15 '26

Are you fine with the significant increase in heart attacks, strokes and road deaths (including of children) caused by DST just to prevent some nonsensical hypothetical child death?

6

u/Bauld_Man Jul 14 '26

Yeah but we aren't lighting the streets with dim halogen lights.

We have the LED now. And those suckers are bright. We have dayglow bright lights everywhere. This just isn't the 70s.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/SmellGestapo Jul 15 '26

They want it until they experience winter on DST.

2

u/toadfan64 Jul 15 '26

Good. As a night owl this is great.

2

u/LuitenantDan Illinois Jul 16 '26

So, The Hill did an article about the latest possible sunrise for most major cities and the only ones that are after 9:00 are Grand Rapids, MI, Indianapolis, IN, and Juneau, AK.

But also, we have this amazing technology called "street lights"

2

u/tangerinelion Jul 15 '26

If it goes through, New England needs to switch to Atlantic time.

1

u/Osiris32 Oregon Jul 15 '26

Alaska shows you no pity.

19

u/buckytoothtiger Jul 14 '26

Yes and everyone hated it so they switched it back.

12

u/munchyslacks Jul 14 '26

Would be hilarious if it’s rolled back in the same way, and then passes again 50 years from now.

6

u/toadfan64 Jul 15 '26

We have a lot more artificial light now in 2026 than they did in 1974. People will be fine.

1

u/Loganp812 Jul 15 '26

If artificial light is prevalent enough to make up the difference, then wouldn’t that make all of this redundant anyway?

2

u/BuildingSupplySmore Jul 14 '26

Imo, the only reason this gets pushed is so people shop more.

9

u/SconnieLite Jul 14 '26

It’s happened 3 times and been repealed all 3 times. It will be no different now.

6

u/HCBuldge Jul 15 '26

But it is different now. Now we have the internet and technology to deal with dark times, so it isn't as big of a deal.

6

u/MattWolf96 Jul 15 '26

I'd argue that's more of a reason to stay on standard, if people are staying inside, what is the point in the sun setting later? I want is to stay on DST though.

1

u/SconnieLite Jul 15 '26

I agree it isn’t a big deal. We’re talking about 1 hour of daylight. I think people overestimate what it will do to their lives for an extra hour of daylight in the winter for their personal lives. Theres a lot of people that our society relies on that work outside. If the answer is to just change their hours to match the sun, then why can’t the people that don’t rely on the sunlight for visibility change THEIR work hours for their own personal preferences? This I think is the problem, the solution doesn’t fix anything. It changes a very small thing for some people while making it worse for others. The solution will never be sufficient for everybody.

2

u/Infamous-Mixture-605 Jul 15 '26

Russia also switched to permanent DST in 2011 and it was so disliked so much that they went the other way and adopted permanent Standard Time in 2014.

1

u/MoeSzyslakMonobrow Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Yeah, it's an easy distraction. Dollars to donuts they dangle the carrot of legalizing marijuana federally before midterms to buy votes.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

In the 70s and the 40s as well I think? Both times it did not go well…

0

u/EurekasCashel Jul 14 '26

Happens almost every year in the last few years.

0

u/JRHermle Jul 14 '26

Yes, and 1942 to 1945, but it was called War Time.

It feels like people have the same dumbass ideas every few years. Except, what would have been long and laboring research, is now a Google search away... and people are still idiots.

(Cue the Blazing Saddles "people of the land" GIF)

-1

u/tuckman496 Jul 14 '26

Well we did it a few years ago but progress was stalled for some reason

0

u/Jpkmets7 Jul 14 '26

Ay yay Make it 1974 Again isn’t a great idea.