||| FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |||
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate unanimously approved a measure Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year.
The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year. But the bill still needs approval from the House, and the signature of President Joe Biden, to become law.
“No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the original cosponsor of the legislation, said in a statement.
Markey was joined on the chamber floor by senators from both parties as they made the case for how making daylight saving time permanent would have positive effects on public health and the economy and even cut energy consumption.
“Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Americans want more sunshine and less depression — people in this country, all the way from Seattle to Miami, want the Sunshine Protection Act,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington added.
But Senators, sunshine is in fact a true zero-sum game. You don’t get any new inventory by blaming the clock and guaranteeing us freezing darkness until almost mid-morning in winter. And those purported ill-effects on mood-swings and heart palpitations, well, you get the same around New Year’s Eve, Superbowl Sunday, and summer nights when the moon is full. I am willing to let Sen. Rick Scott be grumpy for a few days if we can keep the “outdated” time change in place.
Odd that PattyMurray (and presumably Maria Cantwell) went along with this measure, seemingly enthusiastically. Doesn’t she (they) know what winter mornings are like here under standard time?