US President Donald Trump has intensified his push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, publicly targeting Senator Tom Cotton for blocking the legislation in the Senate.
In a series of posts on his Truth Social account on Saturday, Trump accused the Arkansas Republican of "holding up" the Sunshine Protection Act, which Trump has chosen to call the "No More Changing of Clocks Act."
"For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it's very easy to do, it only takes one!" Trump wrote. "It should pass overwhelmingly, in a Bipartisan fashion."
"Nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year and, having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning!" he added.
Trump went further, publishing what he claimed was Cotton's phone number and urging Arkansas residents to pressure the senator directly. The move echoed a moment from the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when Trump similarly released the phone number of Senator Lindsey Graham after Graham criticized him. The number Trump posted returned an automated message stating the voicemail box was full. Cotton's spokesperson and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The bill passed the US House in July by a 308-117 vote. On Friday, Trump urged the Senate to approve it. The legislation would end the decades-long American practice of adjusting clocks twice a year.
Cotton has previously opposed the bill. In a Senate floor speech last year, he argued that farmers, construction workers, commuters, and children heading to school would begin their days in darkness during winter months under a permanent daylight saving regime.
Trump disputed that argument on Saturday, saying the bill "would be a very nice and easy WIN for the Republican Party."
"If Tom Cotton were putting Arkansas first, he would give them an extra hour of daylight and, more importantly, they wouldn't have to run all over their houses, farms, workplaces, and everywhere else, twice a year, having to change their Clocks, and often forgetting to do so," Trump wrote.
Trump also cited the PGA Tour as a beneficiary of the proposed change. "The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments," he wrote, including in his post a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp supporting the bill. Trump spent part of Saturday at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia.
In a subsequent post, Trump said he had received personal feedback on the issue: "I don't know about anyone else, but a table full of very distinguished people just told me that they HATE, immediately after a mandatory time change, going home at night – and it's DARK. It's depressing!"
The United States briefly adopted year-round daylight saving time in 1974 in response to an energy crisis. Congress repealed the measure less than a year later, citing safety concerns over children commuting to school before sunrise.
The Senate's prospects for passing the bill before the November 3 midterm elections appear uncertain. Senators left Washington this week with no set plans to return before polling day. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said he did not expect Senate Republican Leader John Thune to bring the bill to a vote in time.
"It's dead as disco," Kennedy told sources this week. "My sense is it would have trouble passing … I don't think the leader is going to bring it up."
