Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton is opposing a proposal to keep the nation on daylight saving time year-round as the U.S. Senate prepares to revisit the issue after a lengthy recess.
The House of Representatives approved the change by a wide margin in July, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate. Senators are scheduled to return to Washington on Nov. 9, and supporters are expected to renew their push after most of the country returned to standard time Sunday.
President Donald Trump supports permanent daylight saving time. Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said he opposes the change despite also disliking the twice-yearly clock adjustments.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Saving Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,”
Cotton wrote the statement in an Oct. 3 post. His office referred to that post when asked about his position.
The Senate debate
The Senate proposal faces opposition from senators representing rural areas and states where winter mornings would remain dark while children travel to school. The debate has divided lawmakers from both parties, with supporters emphasizing the inconvenience of changing clocks and opponents citing the timing of sunrise during the winter.
Trump has argued that Americans are tired of changing their clocks twice a year. The president also criticized Cotton in a social media post while pressing for the year-round system.
- July: The House votes overwhelmingly for year-round daylight saving time.
- Nov. 9: Senators are scheduled to return from recess.
- Senate status: The legislation has not advanced out of the chamber.
The current system generally requires most states to move between daylight saving time and standard time each year under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. The law followed earlier federal efforts to standardize time zones and clock changes, including temporary changes during the energy crisis of the 1970s.
The issue has come before Congress several times. The debate now centers on whether the country should remain on daylight saving time throughout the year or continue the existing schedule, which shifts between daylight saving time and standard time.
