On Saturday, President Donald Trump posted what he presented as Sen. Tom Cotton's cellphone number on Truth Social and told people to call it. Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, opposes the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent year-round. The House passed the bill 308-117 on July 14, and the Senate hasn't voted. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, called the bill "dead as disco." The Senate is out of session and isn't scheduled to return until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Clocks go back an hour on Sunday, Nov. 1. Cotton replied on X that afternoon.

1. Lock In Daylight Saving Time Year-Round (President Trump, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp)

Trump says ending the clock change is an easy win, and the PGA Tour agrees.

Ending the clock change is an easy win for Republicans. Trump posted "TAKE THE WIN TOM, JUST TAKE THE WIN!" and called the bill "a very nice and easy WIN for the Republican Party." He says Cotton is holding the bill up and that it only takes one senator to do that.

Most people want more daylight after work. Trump claims "65% PLUS want more sun in the afternoon" and that "100% don't want to change their Clocks twice a year." He says the PGA Tour needs it to finish tournaments, and that golfers, tennis players, hunters, and farmers want it to play or work. A February 2026 YouGov survey found 64% of Americans want to end clock changes and 16% oppose ending them. In that poll, 43% preferred permanent daylight saving time and 28% preferred permanent standard time.

Golf leaders say it's worth $1 billion a year. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp wrote an Oct. 1 letter, which Trump shared, saying the Tour strongly supports the bill. He cited a National Golf Course Owners Association estimate that it would bring the golf industry $1 billion a year in new direct revenue.

2. Winter Mornings Would Be Too Dark (Sen. Tom Cotton, backed by Rep. Chip Roy)

Cotton says kids would walk to school in the dark, and Rep. Chip Roy backs him.

Congress already tried this and took it back. Cotton wrote on X that Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time multiple times. He says it repealed the law each time once Americans experienced "absurdly late sunrises in the winter." One try came in 1974, during an energy crisis. Congress reversed it within a year because people worried about children commuting before sunrise.

Kids shouldn't wait for the school bus in the dark. Cotton wrote, "Arkansans don't want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I'll always put Arkansas first." He has also said that farmers, construction workers, and commuters would start their days in the dark in winter.

Cotton has support, including on the phone number. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, wrote on X that he agrees with Cotton and that Cotton "should not have been doxxed." Other Republican senators also object to the bill.

3. Keep Standard Time All Year (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Stanford's Jamie Zeitzer)

Sleep doctors oppose the bill too, and they want permanent standard time instead.

Permanent daylight saving time would disrupt sleep and body clocks. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine said in a July 15 statement that the change "would cause misalignment with human circadian rhythms, which are crucial for regulating sleep, mood, and overall well-being." Its president, Dr. Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, urged the Senate to "reject this dangerous mandate." The group calls permanent standard time "the healthier, safer choice."

Stanford researchers found standard time is healthiest. Jamie Zeitzer is a Stanford sleep researcher and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He was the senior author of a 2025 paper in the journal PNAS. The team modeled permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time, and the current twice-a-year switch. They estimated permanent standard time would prevent about 300,000 strokes a year and leave 2.6 million fewer people with obesity. Zeitzer said the case for morning light had been "a theory without any data. And finally, we have data."

States could still choose daylight time. The sleep academy backs the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would set permanent standard time nationwide. The bill would let states opt into permanent daylight saving time if they want it.

Where This Lands

Trump says permanent daylight saving time is an easy win that golfers and the PGA Tour back. Cotton says it would send Arkansas kids to school in the dark, and that Congress has tried it and repealed it before. Sleep doctors oppose the bill too, and they want permanent standard time instead. The Senate is out until after the Nov. 3 midterms, and clocks go back on Sunday, Nov. 1.

Sources