Markey renews his push to eliminate the end of daylight saving time

Senator Ed Markey thinks we shouldn't have to change our clocks in the fall and spring.Sean Gallup/Getty

You might be looking forward to an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, as the nation switches from daylight saving time to standard time. But a bipartisan group of US senators, including Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey, think the twice-annual resetting of the clocks is more trouble than it’s worth.

For the fifth time since 2018, the lawmakers are pushing the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would permanently put the United States on daylight saving time, which is the time setting now used during the summer months in most of the US.

“This head-spinning ritual of falling back and springing forward has gone on long enough,” Markey said in an email. “It isn’t just a nuisance — changing our clocks also has a very real impact on our economy, our health, and our happiness.”

Markey, who is co-sponsoring this year’s version of the bill along with Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio, has been nibbling at the issue for years, so far to little effect.

Markey and his allies earned a minor victory two years ago when the Senate passed a bill to eliminate the time change — though the measure died in the House. Other versions of the legislation have foundered as well: The proposal Markey is pushing this week was introduced years ago and has so far gone nowhere.

All this means that despite the Massachusetts senator’s efforts, you should still plan on changing your clock this weekend. The Senate doesn’t even have any formal business scheduled before we fall back this year.

Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — have opted out of the annual time switch and use standard time year-round. Markey’s bill would let these states keep using standard time.

Markey‘s bill has some scientific backing. But Beth Malow, director of the Sleep Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the United States should adopt standard time rather than daylight saving time “because it maximizes morning light, which aligns our brains and bodies to the outside world and improves sleep and mood.”