The Senate is unlikely to act before the end of the year on a House-passed bill that would make daylight saving time permanent, defying President Donald Trump and dashing the hopes of Americans who don’t like having to change their clocks twice a year.

As daylight saving time ends early Sunday and much of the country turns the clocks back an hour, several senators are holding up legislation that would eliminate the longtime U.S. practice. Supporters argue that ending the time change would provide more daylight during the afternoon, when Americans are most active, but opponents say commuters in some states wouldn’t see the sun until after 9 a.m.

“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Cotton, a member of GOP leadership, is the most vocal opponent of the change, notably drawing Trump’s ire earlier this month when the Republican president posted his personal cellphone number on social media and ordered him to “GET IT DONE!” But Cotton is not the only senator blocking the legislation, which would make daylight saving time the permanent national standard.

Several other Republicans, particularly those from some Northern states that would see much later sunrises, say they also oppose it.

“You’d be sending kids to school in the dark,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds.

More in the article.

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[–] Ascrod@midwest.social 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

“You’d be sending kids to school in the dark"

Just shorten the school day then, and the work day for that matter, give folks more time at home.

Or don't - we have artificial lighting and every child has a GPS-enabled ~~ankle monitor~~ cell phone anyway.

We can also create more time zones. States can also implement their own rules (Indiana used to have fast time and slow time, for example).

There are so many better ways to solve this problem than one nationally-mandated DST.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Kids going to school in the dark seems better than kids losing their afternoons to the dark. At least schools are well-lit and warmish and someone's checking that they got there (most get there in a vehicle anyway).

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Speak for yourself. Plenty here walk or ride bikes and it's painfully dark in the mornings before the time switch. We already had one or two killed over the past couple years during dark mornings.

I agree we could shift school times, etc etc but we all know that won't happen because businesses won't agree to shift time to accommodate.

As a parent I'd much rather kids get there safely than gain an hour of daylight in the evening.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

It's still painfully dark in the mornings a few weeks after the time switch so it doesn't matter much. The time switch however ensures that kids don't see daylight after school either. So now they're going home in the dark too.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How do they get home? When my kids were in school, after-school sports practice or theater rehearsal often ran until well after dark. Maybe it depends where in the time zone you fall.

Although with the terrible traffic and the car-centric roads between our apartment and the schools you'd risk your life riding a bike even in broad daylight.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Parents usually get them after work. I agree if they were on their own well after dark it'd be tricky in the evening too.

And preach- we're slowly getting better but even in the city itself it's still far too auto oriented.

[–] g8phcon2@k.fe.derate.me 1 points 1 week ago

abolish schools

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you can change the school schedule to accommodate DST shortcomings, you can change the school schedule to accommodate Standard Time. It’s all an abstraction anyway. Want more time outside in the sun? Get a job in the early shift or the night shift. Or ask your employer to have seasonal hours to allow for more time after work.

The crux is that the earths axis is tilted and you’ll be cheated out of light no matter how you slice it. With 8 or fewer daylight hours in the day you’re exceptionally likely to miss all of the sunshine in any 7-4/8-5/9-6 job. Shifting the clock either way will always fuck it up for somebody. Time is just a way to say, with some margin of error, that the sun is overhead (or on the opposite side of the earth from you) at a “zero” point.

Asking politicians to “fix” your personal dislike of your employers hours or your preferred sleep schedule is selfish and/or lazy*.

note that I’m a very big fan of lazy, personally, when it makes things run better, but I do get agitated when being lazy fucks it up for other people.

[–] Ascrod@midwest.social 1 points 1 week ago

Without unions, and with the job market the way it is, politicians actually do have more control over my employer than I do. "Ask for better hours" and "find a new job" don't cut it these days.

What I was partly trying to get at is that we work too much and for too long. But the best way to fix that and get more time to ourselves is unionization and regulation.

My other point is that we can just reinvent our timezones at the state and local level to best serve the people that live in them.