Bid to make Daylight Saving permanent: Marco Rubio blasts ‘outdated’ tradition and Democrat Markey warns US is sacrificing ‘energy savings and crime reduction’ in favor of darkness – as America prepares to go back an hour
- “We sacrifice energy savings, crime control and economic benefits for darkness,” Markey said of standard time
- “It’s time for Congress to pass the Sunshine Protection Act and make Daylight Saving Time permanent to keep the sun shining.”
A group of lawmakers are renewing an effort to make daylight saving time permanent ahead of this weekend’s “setback” when clocks will be turned back an hour.
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Connecticut, who cosponsored the legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. introduced, said the change would lead to energy savings and crime reduction.
“If we ‘backslid’ and lose the extra hour of daylight saving time on Sundays, we sacrifice energy savings, crime control and economic benefits for the darkness,” he said in a statement.
“Over the years, I have fought and won to extend Daylight Saving Time – adding two months of sunshine to the American people’s calendar, saving the same amount of electricity used by more than 100,000 homes for an entire year is consumed,” says the spokesperson. Senator continued.
“It’s time for Congress to pass the Sunshine Protection Act and make daylight saving time permanent so the sun can keep shining.”
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Connecticut, who cosponsored the legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. introduced, said the change would lead to energy savings and crime reduction.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., introduced companion legislation in the House.
In 2005, then-Rep. Markey and former Representative Fred Upton amended the Uniform Time Act to increase the amount of time spent on daylight saving time each year. It changed the start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March and changed the end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November.
Making daylight saving time permanent is one of the rare issues with bipartisan support in Congress, and yet neither chamber has proposed legislation to do so.
At 2 a.m. on November 5, clocks will be reset one hour to standard time everywhere except Hawaii and Arizona, both of which permanently observe standard time.
The biannual time change started as a way to save electricity during World War I. In recent years, many Americans have wished it would go away, with only 25 percent saying they wanted to keep changing their clocks.