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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 received widespread praise following its unanimous Senate passage earlier this week. If passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the bill would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent across the country starting in 2023. See press highlights below.
 
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board: “Rubio is right: Stop shifting those clocks | Editorial” (Orlando Sentinel, 3/17/2022)

• “Making either standard or daylight time permanent would help Americans live healthier, less sleep-deprived lives, fight mood disorders such as depression, increase productivity and do away with the annual anxiety of remembering to shift schedules. In some ways, it could reduce the consumption of energy….”
• “…Stop the pretense that, each year, an entire hour leaps across a eight-month span. It’s past time to lock the clocks.”

Politico’s Gary Fineout: “Rubio’s clock persistence might pay off” (Gary Fineout, Politico, 3/16/2022) 

• “On Tuesday, however, Rubio used a procedural move to get his bill — dubbed the ‘Sunshine Protection Act’ — approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate without debate. The measure now moves to the House, where just last week a panel in that chamber held a hearing raising questions about the need for springing forward and falling back each year.”
• “Rubio’s move got a tremendous amount of media attention, in part because every time news organizations do stories on the effort they generate a lot of internet traffic. Maybe it’s because there are a lot of Americans who agree with the senator.”

CNN’s Chris Cillizza: “Why Congress nailed it on Daylight Saving Time” (Chris Cillizza, CNN, 3/16/2022)

• Cillizza: “As best as I can tell — based solely on personal experience — the only argument to fall back is so that I don’t fall asleep watching ‘Saturday Night Live’ for that one episode on the second Saturday night in November. Which isn’t enough of a reason to keep the status quo.”

New York Magazine’s Margaret Hartmann: “I Guess Marco Rubio Is My Hero Now” (Margaret Hartmann, Intelligencer, 3/15/2022)

• Hartmann: “I am no fan of Senator Rubio… But for several years, I have been joking that if Rubio actually completed his quest to eliminate America’s biannual clock switch, I would have no choice but to support him.” 
• Hartmann: “My reasoning is simple: Winter is tough enough, and changing the clocks so it gets dark at 4:30 p.m. in the New York area makes me want to die. Therefore, when I became aware several years ago that there were like-minded people calling on Congress to make this change, I decided to support them blindly — and I really mean blindly.”
• Hartmann: “So thank you, Senator Rubio, for looking past all the mean things I’ve said about you and advancing this important issue. When the House and President Biden finally enact our vision for a literally brighter tomorrow, I will raise a glass in your honor.”

New York Magazine’s Matt Stieb: “Our Long National Nightmare May Finally Be Over” (Matt Stieb, Intelligencer, 3/15/2022)

• Stieb: “Partisan gridlock in the Senate has opened up to fight the real enemy: that foul ruiner of moods better known as daylight saving time. On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the practice of changing the clocks twice a year by November 2023 and bring peace to those Americans whose serotonin crashes when it gets dark in the middle of the afternoon for no good reason at all.” 
• Stieb: “Advocates, including the bill’s co-authors, Marco Rubio and Senate Health Committee Chair Patty Murray, point to evidence that changing the clocks in the winter increases the risk of stroke and reduces exercise time for Americans of all ages.”

The Post Millennial: “Senate unanimously approves to make Daylight Saving Time permanent” (James Anthony, The Post Millennial, 3/15/2022)

• “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the lead sponsor, provided a list of benefits for the proposal, including reduced seasonal affective disorder in the late fall and early winter as well as more daylight available for school sports.” 
• “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) could be heard on the mic saying ‘Ooh, I love it,’ … Following the bill’s passage, Sinema let out an audible, ‘Yes!’”

Breitbart: Senate approves measure to make daylight saving time permanent (Breitbart, 3/15/2022)

• “Steve Callandrillo, a law professor who has researched the costs of changing to daylight saving time, testified before the House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee last week that while saving energy ‘was the original justification for daylight saving time, it’s no longer as strong as it used to be….’”
• “National Association of Convenience Stores lobbyist Lyle Beckwith, however, said…studies showed that credit card spending increased in the spring in Los Angeles, which observes daylight saving, compared to Phoenix, which does not.”
• “‘…[P]eople feel as though they have more time after work to engage in a range of activities that increase commerce, from eating out to shopping,’ Beckwith said.”

U.S. News: Senate Unanimously Approves Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent in 2023 (Lisa Hagen, U.S. News, 3/15/2022)

• “The legislation quickly — and surprisingly — made it through the chamber by unanimous consent, which can be uncommon in the split 50-50 Senate where any one senator can object. The Sunshine Protection Act, which garnered support in both parties, means Americans would no longer need to set their clocks back an hour when returning to standard time in the fall.”

Tampa Bay’s ABC Action News (WFTS Tampa Bay, 3/16/2022): 

• “Dr. Jocelyn Cheng with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine [says]…disrupting the circadian rhythm can adversely impact our health… There’s an increased risk of having heart attacks during that switch to Daylight Savings Time, and we also know that these changes are related to impacts on metabolism as well.”

Bret Baier (Fox News, Special Report, 3/15/2022): “The Senate passed a bill to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. This means if it became law, no more ‘Spring Forward, Fall Back.’ No more moving clocks in the U.S. The measure passed by unanimous consent in the Senate…. This is the closest Congress has ever been to actually making this happen.” 
 
Buck Sexton (Fox News, Gutfeld!, 3/16/2022): “We should all push back against the stupidity of being made to do stupid things…. [Changing clocks] was dumb. It was dumb in the beginning, and it never should have happened in the first place. Don’t allow them to make you do things that are absolutely absurd.”