Jump Back No More? Senate Agrees To Halt Daylight Saving Time Switch
The Senate was full of surprises Tuesday when the "Sunshine Protection Act" was introduced with little warning. And again when lawmakers of both parties fully agreed on something, passing the bill by unanimous consent. Twice-a-year clock adjustments — many Americans hate — would end starting in November 2023, if the House also approves and the president signs.
The New York Times:
A Groggy Senate Approves Making Daylight Saving Time Permanent
After losing an hour of sleep over the weekend, members of the United States Senate returned to the Capitol this week a bit groggy and in a mood to put an end to all this frustrating clock-changing. So on Tuesday, with almost no warning and no debate, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to do away with the biannual springing forward and falling back that most Americans have come to despise, in favor of making daylight saving time permanent. The bill’s fate in the House was not immediately clear, but if the legislation were to pass there and be signed by President Biden, it would take effect in November 2023. (Broadwater and Nierenberg, 3/15)
Politico:
Here Comes The Sun: Senate Agrees On Permanent Daylight Saving Time
A bipartisan group of senators has tried and failed, for Congress after Congress, to keep America on daylight saving time permanently. Until Tuesday, when their bright idea finally cleared the chamber. Just two days after the nation’s latest stressful “spring forward” to the later sunsets of daylight saving time, the Senate unanimously and surprisingly passed Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) bill to lock the clocks. The quick and consequential move happened so fast that several senators said afterward they were unaware of what had just happened. (Adragna, Everett and Ferris, 3/15)
The Washington Post:
Senate Votes Unanimously To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent
The legislation, which passed by unanimous consent, must still get through the House and be signed by President Biden to become law. House leaders and White House officials declined to comment on next steps. “The bill just passed this afternoon and we are reviewing it closely," Carlos Paz Jr., a Pelosi spokesperson, said in a statement. Under the measure, the shift to permanent daylight saving time would take effect next year. (Diamond, 3/15)
The Boston Globe:
Senator Whitehouse On Daylight Saving Time: ‘The Whole Thing Is Kind Of A Silly Exercise’
Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was speaking in the Senate on Tuesday about the bill he’d sponsored to make Daylight Saving Time permanent when he noticed something. The person transcribing remarks on the Senate floor, a role that usually comes with a poker face, was... nodding and smiling. To Whitehouse, it was an indication of the broad support behind making Daylight Saving Time permanent – a measure that passed the Senate by unanimous consent. “When the transcribing people are giving you the equivalent of a thumbs-up, that’s a pretty good sign,” Whitehouse, a Democrat who was an original co-sponsor of the bill, told the Globe in a phone interview. (Amaral, 3/15)
The New York Times:
Why Is There Daylight Saving Time, Anyway?
The idea is to move an hour of sunlight from the early morning to the evening, so that people can make more use of daylight. Benjamin Franklin is often credited as the first to suggest it in the 18th century, after he realized he was wasting his Parisian mornings by staying in bed. He proposed that the French fire cannons at sunrise to wake people up and reduce candle consumption at night. Over the next 100 years, the Industrial Revolution laid the groundwork for his idea to enter government policy. (Yuhas, 3/15)
In related news about the importance of sleep —
NPR:
Sleep Is Hard To Come By For 1 In 3 Americans, A Survey Finds
Americans are having a hard time sleeping, and stress seems to be a major factor according to a recent poll. The web-based survey conducted jointly by Gallup and mattress retailer Casper found that only one-third of Americans report getting high-quality sleep. A third of adults said their sleep the previous night was either fair or poor. That suggests nearly 84 million people in this country are tossing and turning. The survey of more than 3,000 adults highlighted that a person's emotional and mental state are major contributing factors, with stress increasing restlessness by 96%. Stress also more heavily impacted younger adults in the poll, with nearly seven in 10 between the ages of 18 to 29 saying that difficulty sleeping has a direct impact on their moods. (Dean, 3/15)
Fox News:
Sleeping With Lights Off And Closed Blinds May Protect Your Health: Study
Turning off all lights and drawing the curtains before hitting the bed may help protect your health, according to a recent study out of Northwestern University that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "These findings are important particularly for those living in modern societies where exposure to indoor and outdoor nighttime light is increasingly widespread," senior study author Dr. Phyllis Zee said in the release. Researchers found exposure even to moderate ambient light while sleeping, compared to sleeping in a dimly lit room, is harmful to your cardiovascular function during sleep and can increase your insulin resistance the following morning, according to a release about the Northwestern Medicine study. (McGorry, 3/15)
