MISLEADING HEADLINE 

Senate unexpectedly approves legislation to abolish daylight-saving time 

(ACTUALLY IT ABOLISHES STANDARD TIME)

gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta) 

© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik The U.S Capitol is visible at sunset as a man plays fetch with a dog in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The Senate passed a bill to move the United States to permanent daylight-saving time.
Since 1966, most Americans have been used to "springing forward" to begin DST in March.

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 would end the bi-annual ritual of changing clocks.





18 SLIDES © Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
THE IDEA FOR DAYLIGHT-SAVING TIME IS ATTRIBUTED TO THINKERS INCLUDING BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, SCIENTIST GEORGE HUDSON, AND A BRITISH MAN NAMED WILLIAM WILLETT, WHO PUBLISHED A PAMPHLET IN 1907 TITLED "THE WASTE OF DAYLIGHT," WHICH ARGUED FOR AN EXTRA 80 MINUTES OF SUNLIGHT IN THE SUMMER.


The walls might be closing on the United States' twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks.

The US Senate unexpectedly passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill to move the United States to permanent daylight-saving time, on Tuesday afternoon, two days after most of the country "sprung forward" to begin daylight-saving time.

The chamber quickly approved the bill through unanimous consent, which allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple voice vote if no senator objects.

The legislation heads next to the House of Representatives and if passed by that chamber, to President Joe Biden's desk.

While thinkers as early as the 19th century proposed versions of daylight-saving time, the United States and several European countries first introduced daylight-saving time as a wartime energy conservation measure during World War I.

In the United States, some states kept observing daylight-saving time while others did not for decades, creating a confusing patchwork of time. The Uniform Time Act, passed by Congress in 1966, set daylight-saving time to begin and end at the same time each year throughout the entire country.

Since Congress last amended the Uniform Time Act in 2005, Americans "spring forward" to begin daylight-saving time at 3 am ET on the second Sunday in March and "fall back" to go to standard time at 2 am ET on the first Sunday in November.

But, in addition to the hassle of changing clocks twice a year, the energy-saving benefits of daylight-saving time are negligible. Some studies have additionally linked the loss of an hour of sleep that comes with the beginning of daylight-saving time to negative health effects, such as increases in heart attacks, car accidents, and workplace injuries.

Other states that receive lots of sunlight, like Hawaii and most of Arizona, don't recognize daylight-saving time at all because they prefer to have cooler temperatures and more shade at the end of the day, not more light.

The bill would still allow those states to be exempt from permanent daylight-saving time and stay on permanent standard time.