The US House of Representatives has voted to change legislation to ensure permanent summer time and end the so-called “turning clocks,” writes the BBC.
By 308 votes in favor (to 117 against), Republican and Democratic representatives approved a bill that would allow Americans to end the twice-yearly time change. With the law taking effect, the US will permanently use daylight saving time, which has been used from March to November.
Republican Scott DesJarlais, who led the vote, played The Beatles’ song Here Comes the Sun on his phone as the votes were counted.
The issue of abandoning the time change has been a bipartisan one for years, and current President Donald Trump promised to abandon the clocks upon his return to the White House.
Florida Republican Representative Vern Buchanan, who began promoting the bill in January 2025, said that the transition to winter and summer time unnecessarily disrupts the rhythm of life.
After the bill is approved by the House of Representatives, it will be considered by the Senate.
Since World War I, the United States has been transitioning to daylight saving time to obtain brighter afternoons and save electricity. The transition to winter time takes place in the fall. After the war, the practice, which was unpopular with farmers, was abolished, only to return to it during World War II, and in 1966 a law was passed to provide a uniform approach to the transition to daylight saving time throughout the country. However, some states, including Hawaii and Arizona, and the US territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, do not observe daylight saving time.
Meanwhile, critics of the bill have argued that abandoning the time change would lead to darker winter mornings, which would cause problems for people who travel in the early morning hours. It has also been pointed out that brighter mornings have a positive effect on health, for example, by improving sleep cycles.
About a third of the world’s countries use the annual time change, most of them in Europe. The only countries in Europe that do not observe daylight saving time are Turkey, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Iceland and Russia.
There are also regular discussions in the European Union about abandoning the clock turning.
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