[The Epoch Times, March 16, 2022](Comprehensive report by The Epoch Times reporter Li Xin) United StatesSenatePassed an item on Tuesday (March 15)billdecided tosummer timepermanent in the United States.
“Sun Protectionbill” (Sunshine Protection Act) won the U.S.SenateUnanimously passed.The bill would allow the U.S. to implement it permanently starting in 2023summer timeending the practice of adjusting the clock twice a year.
But to achieve permanent daylight saving time, the bill needs to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Biden.
According to Politico, a bipartisan group of senators has made several attempts to permanently adopt daylight saving time, which have failed in the past. But just two days after daylight saving time was introduced this year, the Senate passed the clock-locking bill so unexpectedly that several senators later said they had no idea what had just happened.
Florida Republican Senator MarcoRubio(Marco Rubio) was the sponsor of the legislation and pushed the bill to a full Senate vote. He also got the bill to adopt a name that included the nickname of his state. Florida is a tourist destination, known as the “Sunshine State”.
RubioAfter the Senate passed the bill, he said he couldn’t guarantee the House would adopt the legislation, but “it’s an idea whose time has come.”
Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who chaired deliberations on the bill, represents Arizona, which does not observe daylight saving time rules. She can be heard in the microphone as she appears to exclaim: “Oh, I love it.”
The vast majority of states in the United States implement daylight saving time, and the time must be adjusted in March and November every year, which makes many people feel inconvenient. More than a dozen states, including Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming, have passed legislation requiring daylight saving time year-round.
Daylight saving time is no longer observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
An October 2021 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only 25 percent of Americans support switching back and forth between daylight and winter time, compared with 43 percent. of Americans say they want standard time (winter time) year-round, and 32% want daylight saving time year-round.
Now the legislation, called the Sunshine Protection Act, will mean Americans no longer have to adjust their time every year.
The bill proposed by Rubio has bipartisan support, including several Republican and Democratic co-sponsors.
“Just this past weekend, we’ve all experienced the routine of changing the clocks twice a year, and the disruption that comes with it,” Rubio said in his Senate remarks. After a while, people have to ask themselves , why do we keep doing this?”
“If we can pass this bill, we don’t have to keep doing this stupid thing,” Rubio added.
Responsible editor: Ye Ziwei#