EDITORIAL: Congress at impasse over daylight savings time

Americans will adjust their clocks this weekend, as daylight saving time ends Sunday. And despite mounting support for ending the semiannual ritual, Congress appears unlikely to act soon. That’s because the issue isn’t as clear cut as many believe.

Las Vegans will gain an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night as clocks “fall back” and revert to standard time. Residents in most of the country — except Arizona and Hawaii — will also observe the time change. The practice began more than a century ago during World War I as an energy-saving measure.

The routine is greeted in many places — including the White House — with exasperation. President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic, and Congress responded this year with the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. The proposal passed the House 301-117 in July but remains stalled in the Senate. The Associated Press reported this week that the chances are slim the upper chamber — where support for the legislation is tenuous — will act this year.

The debate largely turns on geography. Residents in states such as Nevada with a single time zone — West Wendover notwithstanding — and located in the nation’s mid or southern latitudes wouldn’t see much change under the proposal other than more evening sunlight in the winter months. But those living in northern states or states in the far western reaches of a particular time zone wouldn’t experience morning sunlight during those same months until after their early commute. Parts of Michigan, for instance, would be in the dark until 9:40 a.m.

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

Complicating the matter further: Members of Congress in 1973 passed a bill mandating permanent daylight saving time for an undetermined trial period. But they repealed the effort in a matter of months as complaints mounted about mid-morning darkness and the dangers it created for commuters and schoolchildren.

While some studies have purported to show ill health effects from changing clocks, other reviews cast a skeptical eye on such claims. In fact, a 2026 analysis examining the methodology of one such study concluded that ”what the world read as scientific evidence against time change has turned out to be a mathematical illusion.”

Given the disparate interests of various states, the solution likely resides in Congress giving them more leeway to set their own course — although that would prompt its own set of logistical problems involving transportation companies and other outfits that rely on scheduling. For now, however, the clock changes continue.