Overview
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 to advance the Sunshine Protection Act as part of a larger transportation package, a procedural move that sends the provision to a full House vote.
- President Donald Trump has publicly backed the proposal and sponsors folded it into the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act to speed congressional consideration and let states implement year-round daylight saving time if Congress permits.
- Leading sleep scientists and groups such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine say permanent standard time better aligns with human circadian rhythms and warn that later winter sunrises would reduce morning light, raise risks to sleep, mood, and morning safety, and worsen teen sleep loss.
- Orthodox Jewish organizations say much-later winter sunrises — for example New York after 8 a.m. or Detroit after 9 a.m. for weeks — could prevent observant Jews from completing required morning prayers before work and force changes to synagogue schedules.
- Nineteen states have passed contingent laws to adopt year-round daylight saving time if Congress allows it, the U.S. tried permanent DST in the early 1970s and repealed it after safety complaints, and coverage ranges from reports emphasizing evening-recreation and convenience gains to outlets stressing scientific and religious opposition.