President Trump on Friday renewed his call for changes to daylight saving time, just a month after he suggested the public was too evenly split on the issue for it to be worthwhile.
“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Lawmakers have regularly introduced bills to make daylight saving time permanent, but the legislation has struggled to make it through both chambers of Congress.
Supporters of making daylight saving permanent, which would end the need for most Americans to turn the clocks back an hour in the fall, have argued it would allow for more sunlight later into the day, allowing people to enjoy the outdoors for longer. It’s also a popular proposal among golfers and golf course developers.
But critics of the shift have argued it would mean it would remain dark out later into the morning, forcing children to go to school, and in some cases wait for buses, in the dark.
“It’s a 50/50 issue, and if something is a 50/50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” Trump told reporters last month. “It’s very even. And usually I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?”
Most of the United States has observed daylight saving time since the 1960s, though it was first introduced by then-President Wilson in 1918.