The United States House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide.
In a bipartisan vote of 308-117, the House passed a bill that would leave clocks set to the time currently observed between March and November year-round. Despite this, the measure’s future in the Senate remains uncertain.
President Donald Trump has expressed support for ending the changing of the clocks, saying in May that he was “going to work very hard” to see a law doing so get passed.
“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” he said. “It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it!”
Clocks were first advanced during the summer during World War I in order to allow for more daylight hours in the afternoon to conserve electricity.
Despite being repealed after the war, it was reinstated during World War II and was standardized nationwide in 1966. Some states, including Hawaii and Arizona, however, have opted out of the system.
Hawaii rationalizes this because the schedule disruption caused by DST would be unnecessary given that their proximity to the equator allows for adequate sunlight throughout the year, while Arizona has cited the state’s hot temperatures and desert climate as a reason for avoiding the extra hours of sunlight.
[RELATED: A Thing of the Past? — Maine Lawmakers Consider Ditching Daylight Saving Time]
Maine attempted to pass a law last year that would have opted it out of Daylight Saving Time as well, but both measures that were under consideration ultimately failed to gain enough traction for approval.
As of 2019, Maine law says that the state would adopt Daylight Saving Time year-round if it were permitted by the federal government. The rest of the Eastern Time Zone has also made a similar pledge.
Nationwide, ending the practice of changing the clocks enjoys substantial popularity, with 62 percent of Americans supporting the elimination of these twice-yearly time changes, according to a 2023 YouGov poll.
A study was conducted in Maine in 2024 at the request of the 131st Legislature showing that 72 percent of respondents were in favor of ditching the twice-annual time change, 75 percent of whom wanted the state to permanently switch to Daylight Saving Time.
Maine should be in the Atlantic time zone, like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.