On a December morning in Detroit, the sun might not clear the horizon until 9 a.m. – and under a bill currently making its way through Congress, that’s precisely what residents there could face every winter, permanently. The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide by repealing the temporary daylight saving period and effectively advancing standard time by one hour. For most Americans, that means one thing in winter: a much darker morning commute, every single day, for the rest of their lives.
According to Fox News, the House Rules Committee voted 6-4 on Monday to advance consideration of the Sunshine Protection Act, teeing up a House-wide vote as early as this week. The bill has been building momentum for months. In May, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 in favor of the Sunshine Protection Act, an unusually lopsided tally that reflects how broadly the idea of ending twice-yearly clock changes has spread across party lines.
Still, what most people haven’t focused on yet is what this would actually mean for when the sun rises and sets – by city, by season, and in ways that have real health consequences. The clocks themselves are the easy part of this story. The harder part involves what happens to your body when morning light disappears from your daily routine for months at a stretch.
What the New Sunrise and Sunset Times Would Actually Look Like
The change would not create extra daylight, but it would shift the clock so that daylight comes later in the morning and lasts later into the evening during winter. That distinction matters more than it might seem. Under permanent daylight saving time, some cities would not see the sun rise until well after 8 a.m. in winter – Seattle’s December 1 sunrise would move to 8:38 a.m., Cleveland’s to 8:31 a.m., and Atlanta’s to 8:25 a.m.
Winter sunsets in much of the U.S. would occur after 5 p.m., while sunrises would largely happen after 8 a.m. – and in some areas, after 9 a.m. The northern tier of the country would feel the shift most acutely. Some parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Michigan would not see sunrise until after 9:30 a.m. during winter months.
The flip side – brighter evenings – is real, and it’s the argument that many lean on heavily. Proponents contend that ending the clock change would reduce disruption and give Americans more usable daylight in the evening. On his official congressional website, Rep. Buchanan stated that Americans are “tired of the biannual time change” and argued that permanent daylight saving time could improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime, and encourage more outdoor activity. Brighter after-work hours are associated with increased retail spending, restaurant traffic, and recreational activity – benefits that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie also cited during the Rules Committee markup.
The trade-off is that those economic benefits come at the expense of morning light, and that’s where sleep scientists have serious objections.
What Sleep Researchers Say About Daylight Savings Time Changes
Changing clocks twice a year disrupts circadian rhythms – the body’s innate, roughly 24-hour clock that regulates sleep, hormone production, and many other physiological processes – leading to measurable increases in stroke risk and obesity rates. A 2025 analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Stanford Medicine researchers found a clear path forward on this: both permanent standard time and permanent daylight saving time would be healthier than continuing to change the clocks twice a year.
But those two options are not equally good for your health. The Stanford researchers estimated that permanent standard time would prevent approximately 300,000 cases of stroke per year and result in 2.6 million fewer people having obesity compared to the current system. These projections are drawn from a modeling study – meaning they are based on circadian science and population health data rather than a direct clinical trial, but the methodology was peer-reviewed and published in one of the most rigorous scientific journals in the world. Permanent daylight saving time would achieve only about two-thirds of that benefit. As senior study author Jamie Zeitzer, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, put it: “staying in standard time or staying in daylight saving time is definitely better than switching twice a year.”
According to the Stanford Medicine news release accompanying the study, the collective loss of an hour of sleep on the second Sunday in March has been linked to more heart attacks and fatal traffic accidents in the ensuing days – a well-documented acute effect that the research team folded into their broader modeling of long-term health costs.
Permanent daylight saving time would eliminate those dangerous springtime transitions – but it would leave the country locked into a schedule where winter mornings arrive without natural light. Your body uses light – specifically morning light – as its primary cue for syncing hormone release, body temperature, and alertness. Shift sunrise an hour later, and that synchronization slips for months at a time.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), in a position statement published in January 2024 in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, states that permanent standard time is the optimal choice for health and safety. Lead author Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, chair of the AASM Public Safety Committee and a sleep medicine specialist at Indiana University Health, wrote that “by causing the human body clock to be misaligned with the natural environment, daylight saving time increases risks to our physical health, mental well-being, and public safety.” The AASM’s position is backed by evidence that aligning clocks more closely with solar time – rather than the artificially extended daylight of DST – produces better long-term health outcomes.
The Competing Bill: Permanent Standard Time
Congress isn’t debating only one option. A bipartisan proposal, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act of 2026, introduced by Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania and Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, calls for permanent standard time – the time Americans observe from November through March – with some exceptions for states that choose to adopt daylight saving time.
Permanent standard time would mean earlier sunrises and earlier sunsets year-round. That trades bright summer evenings for morning light that arrives when most people need it – when they wake up, get kids to school, and begin the day. The trade-off looks different depending on latitude. On permanent standard time, the sun would be up at 4:11 a.m. in Seattle in June. Chicago sunrises could be around 4 a.m. in June instead of 5 a.m., though sunset would also come around 7:30 p.m. Whether that’s a reasonable cost for better winter mornings is genuinely debatable – and it’s exactly why Congress is wrestling with two competing bills rather than one obvious answer.
The divide between the two proposals comes down to a core disagreement: permanent daylight saving time offers more usable evening light but pushes sunrise deeper into winter mornings, while permanent standard time restores morning light at the cost of earlier sunsets. That’s the tension sleep scientists say matters most for long-term health.
The 1974 Experiment – and Why It Ended Early
The United States has done this before. In 1974, Congress passed year-round daylight saving time amid the energy crisis, and public enthusiasm was high at first. As the Washington Post has noted, that experiment was cut short amid public concern over dark mornings. Approval quickly plummeted as children began heading to school in complete darkness across much of the country. Congress ended the experiment early in October 1974 due to mounting public opposition.
That history hasn’t stopped the current push, but it does explain why some lawmakers remain cautious. Should the Sunshine Protection Act pass the House, it would face opposition in the Senate. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has said the measure would result in “absurdly late” winter sunrises and force children to “walk to school in the pitch black” in much of the country.
Where States Already Stand
Nineteen states – Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming – have already passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent should Congress allow the move.
Federal law currently allows states to opt out of daylight saving time and remain on standard time, but does not allow states to adopt permanent daylight saving time on their own. That’s why Arizona and Hawaii – the two holdouts from the twice-yearly clock change – are on standard time rather than permanent daylight saving time. A federal act is the only vehicle that could let the nineteen states that have voted for permanent DST actually implement it.
Public opinion strongly supports ending the clock changes – the disagreement is over which permanent system to adopt. An October 2025 AP-NORC poll found that only 12% of Americans favor the current system of changing the clocks twice a year. Among those who want a permanent system, 56% prefer daylight saving time year-round while 42% prefer permanent standard time.
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What This Means for You
The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time – meaning if it passes, the clocks Americans set in March would simply never go back. The bill still faces several steps before it could become law. Even if the House approves it, the Senate would also need to pass the measure before it could be sent to President Trump for his signature. Given Senate-side opposition, the path is not guaranteed.
If the bill does pass, the practical adjustment will vary dramatically depending on where you live. People in southern states and those in the eastern portions of each time zone would experience relatively modest changes to their winter mornings. Those in the northern Midwest and Pacific Northwest would see the biggest shift – waking well before sunrise for months on end, every year, with no chance of the clocks “falling back” to restore that morning light.
For anyone tracking their sleep and health carefully, the research consensus points in one direction: morning light matters, your circadian rhythm responds to it, and policies that push sunrise past 9 a.m. in winter create a gap that artificial lighting cannot fully close. Whether Congress ultimately lands on permanent daylight saving time, permanent standard time, or fails to act at all, the debate over daylight savings time changes is now commanding national attention – and the outcome will affect what time you see sunrise for decades to come.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and is for information only. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition and/or current medication. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking advice or treatment because of something you have read here.
AI Disclaimer: This article was created with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by a human editor.
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