‘It’s So Dark Outside, So Early’: Trump Asks The Outgoing Congress For One Last Win — Permanent Daylight Saving

WASHINGTON — President Trump called on Republicans on Wednesday to secure at least one last legislative victory while they still hold Congress: make daylight saving time permanent. “Too bad the Senate has not yet approved the Sunshine Protection Act or, the I Don’t Want to Change My Clocks Anymore Act,” the president wrote on Truth Social as darkness fell. “It’s so dark outside, so early (Sunset was 5:06 P.M., and it was dark by 5:31 P.M. — Isn’t that ridiculous?). Just a few days ago it was so nice and sunny at this same time. In addition, everyone’s been running around changing their clocks all over the place.”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this prior to the Election because I didn’t want to have certain Senators lose their Race, in a landslide, but it is too bad they can’t get it done,” he continued. “The House sent it over to the Senate with great bipartisan support, numerous times (308-117), but the Senate didn’t take it up. We have far bigger priorities, but I will keep fighting for this!” The House did pass the Sunshine Protection Act in July by that 308–117 margin. The bill would end the twice-yearly clock changes mandated by the Uniform Time Act of 1966, making daylight saving time the permanent national standard while letting states choose permanent standard time instead. Only Congress can change the system; states cannot opt into permanent daylight time on their own.

The Roadblock Has A Name

The Senate’s inaction has a face: Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, re-elected on Tuesday with 54.3 percent of the vote, who opposes the bill arguing permanent daylight time would push winter sunrises to “an absurdly late hour,” a safety concern for children heading to school in the dark. The president’s frustration with Cotton is not new — last month he went so far as to publish the senator’s phone number on social media over the stalled bill. Supporters of the act argue for later sunsets and an end to the spring-forward disruption; opponents, including sleep researchers who favor permanent standard time instead, warn about dark winter mornings. The politics, though, have now changed under the bill: the Senate that declined to take it up will be a Democratic Senate in January, and the window Trump is pointing at is the lame-duck session of the Congress his party is about to hand over — roughly eight weeks to pass the one law he says he saved for after the election.

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The idea has crossed this bridge before. In March 2022 the Senate passed a version of the Sunshine Protection Act by unanimous consent, only for it to stall in the House — proof that the clock bill’s enemies are rarely numerous, merely well placed. Under the current law, states may opt out of daylight saving into permanent standard time, as Arizona and Hawaii have done, but no state may choose permanent daylight time without Congress. That is the asymmetry the president’s post was aimed at: the change he wants is the one only a Senate can give him, and as of Wednesday night, the Senate he has is the one that would not.

Sources: President Trump, Truth Social post, November 4, 2026; USA Today, November 4, 2026; Washington Examiner and The Wall Street Journal live coverage, November 4, 2026; Anadolu Agency via Daily Imroz, November 4, 2026.