President Donald Trump has grown less aggressive about getting rid of a national time change, saying Thursday ending daylight saving time is a “50-50 issue”—changing his previous stance that the time change is “inconvenient” just days before clocks will spring forward.
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on … [+] March 6.
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Key Facts
When asked in the Oval Office on Thursday when he was going to remove daylight saving time, Trump said, “it’s a 50-50 issue, and if something’s a 50-50 issue it’s hard to get excited about it.”
Trump said he assumed people would like to have more light later in the day, but that “some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”
“It’s something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way, it’s very even, and usually I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?” Trump said Thursday.
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Will Trump Get Rid Of Daylight Saving Time?
It’s unclear, though his comments Thursday evening indicate he is leaning against removing it. As recently as December, Trump said on Truth Social the “Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate” daylight saving time, which he said “has a small but strong constituency” and is “very costly to our Nation.” Trump could not remove daylight saving time alone: Getting rid of it would require an act from Congress and approval from the president.
Is It Daylight Saving Time?
Until Sunday, the U.S. is in standard time, or ST. Beginning Sunday at 2 a.m., most U.S. states will move to daylight saving time, or DST.
When Exactly Does Daylight Saving Time Begin?
Daylight saving time begins overnight, on Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. People in most of the U.S. will turn their clocks forward one hour, meaning they will lose one hour of sleep, but the sun will set an hour later until daylight saving time ends on Nov. 2.
What’s Elon Musk’s Take On Daylight Saving Time?
Unclear. On Wednesday, key Trump adviser Elon Musk took to X to ask Americans what they wanted to see happen to daylight saving time. Musk asked X users if daylight saving time was canceled, what would they prefer, and 58.1% of respondents said they’d prefer an hour later, while 41.9% said an hour earlier.
Why Does Daylight Saving Time Exist?
Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March each year and runs through the first Sunday in November. The practice was first established in 1918 as a wartime policy designed to give people more daylight, though it was repealed and became a local matter shortly after, according to the U.S. Navy Astronomical Applications Department. Daylight saving time was brought back nationwide in 1966 through the Uniform Time Act, and has stuck around despite opponents believing it does more harm than good to peoples’ health. People who want to see daylight saving time end argue it’s associated with increased heart problems, car crashes and mood disorders, according to the American Medical Association, which has previously advocated for a permanent move to standard time. Proponents of the time change, though, say people are grateful to have more sunshine after the traditional work day and that the policy can reduce energy usage and improve quality of life. Lawmakers have worked to make changes to daylight saving time for years, and got closest in 2022 when the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act that would have made the practice permanent and gotten rid of the switch to standard time—though the House never took up a vote on the bill.
Further Reading
Trumps Says Republicans Will Work To Eliminate Daylight Saving Time (Forbes)
