Time to Fall Back
Daylight saving time for 2023 will end on Nov. 5 with most Americans having to “fall back” for the biannual time change and turn their clocks back an hour — and it looks likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Two Florida Republicans introduced the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 in March to make daylight saving time permanent after the proposal faltered in the last Congress, but so far the bill hasn’t made any significant inroads, all but guaranteeing that most Americans will have another year of changing their clocks.
This latest attempt to alter the biannual ritual started on Capitol Hill, “falling back” and “springing forward” caused considerable consternation amongst Americans. Parents who want their children to head to school in the daylight can appreciate “falling back” to standard time, but those who want the sun to shine long enough to play in the park after classes may want to keep daylight saving time year-round. Permanently keeping one over the other means people won’t have their sleeping schedules disrupted twice a year.
In 2022, a CBS News/YouGov poll found 46% of Americans supported having daylight saving time year-round while 33% wanted to make standard time permanent. Just over a fifth of Americans, 21%, preferred keeping things the way they are.
Nineteen states have already passed legislation to stay on daylight saving time permanently if Congress would let them.
Why do we have Daylight savings time, well during World War I, Germany started observing daylight saving time in 1916 to try to conserve fuel with the extra hour of daylight in the evening, according to the Congressional Research Service. Other European nations followed suit as the war dragged on, and the U.S. started using daylight saving time in 1918.
Congress repealed daylight saving time over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto in 1919 but gave states the option to continue observing it. It was brought back during World War II — with the country observing it year-round — and then again in 1966 with a twice-yearly changing of the clocks similar to what happens today.
Congress tried keeping the country on daylight saving time year-round again in 1974 in response to the 1973 oil embargo, but brought back the biannual switch to standard time before the year was over. In 2022, Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey who was then chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said public opinion in the ’70s had turned against the idea.
The most recent change to daylight saving time took effect in 2007, when the start and end dates were changed to make it longer.
By the way, the actual time change is 2 a.m., but most observers of the time switch, set their clocks prior to going to bed Saturday night.
