A bill to permanently “spring forward” has been stalled in Congress for more than seven months, as lawmakers trade jabs over whether the Senate should have passed the legislation at all. House officials say they’ve been deluged by voters with split opinions and warnings from sleep specialists who insist that adopting permanent standard time instead would be healthier, and congressional leaders admit they just don’t know what to do.
“We haven’t been able to find consensus in the House on this yet,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a statement to The Washington Post. “There are a broad variety of opinions about whether to keep the status quo, to move to a permanent time, and if so, what time that should be.”
Pallone, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce committee that oversees time-change policies, also said he’s wary of repeating Congress’ previous attempt to institute year-round daylight saving time nearly 50 years ago, which was quickly repealed amid widespread reports that darker winter mornings led to more car accidents and drearier moods.
“We don’t want to make a hasty change and then have it reversed several years later after public opinion turns against it — which is exactly what happened in the early 1970s,” Pallone said.
With lawmakers having hit the snooze button, there is little chance of the legislation being advanced during the lame-duck period that follows next week’s election, congressional aides said.
The bill’s quiet collapse puts an end to an unusual episode that briefly riveted Congress, became fodder for late-night comics and fueled water-cooler debate. The Senate’s unanimous vote in March to allow states to permanently shift their clocks caught some of the chamber’s own members by surprise — and in a reverse of traditional Washington dynamics, it was the House slowing down the Senate’s legislation.
Key senators who backed permanent daylight saving time say they’re mystified that their effort appears doomed, and frustrated that they will probably have to start over in the next Congress. At least 19 states in recent years have enacted laws or passed resolutions that would allow them to impose year-round daylight saving time — but only if Congress approves legislation to stop the nation’s twice-per-year time changes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“This isn’t a partisan or regional issue, it is a commonsense issue,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who co-authored the Sunshine Protection Act, which passed the Senate in March, said in a statement. Senate staff noted that a bipartisan companion bill in the House, backed by 48 Republicans and Democrats, has been stalled for nearly two years in an Energy and Commerce subcommittee chaired by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
“I don’t know why the House refuses to pass this bill — it seems like they are rarely in session — but I will keep pushing to make this a reality,” Rubio said, taking a swipe at his congressional counterparts.
Rubio and his colleagues’ gloomy mood this fall is a stark contrast from their sunny celebrations when the Senate abruptly passed their bill two days after the “spring forward” clock change, with still-groggy lawmakers campaigning on it as a common-sense reform.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook in support of this bill — from moms and dads who want more daylight before bedtime to senior citizens who want more sun in the evenings to enjoy the outdoors to farmers who…
Read More: Clock runs out on efforts to make daylight saving time permanent
