# Daylight Savings Time: Why is the US congress split on this matter **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 6, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456 "2022-11-06T04:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/221 "2022-11-10T19:02:40Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > The only times the “government” sets are public offices and schools. Take away time zones and they will have to start. Just scheduling government office times will become a nightmare. Imagine an again h that has offices all across the country. Where will they even start with office hours? Guess what the first thing on the agenda will be: drawing time zones. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/222 "2022-11-10T19:08:51Z")
It’s no more difficult than it is now. Right now, many business start at 9AM. But, you still need to figure out what time zone you are in to know when it’s OK to call. With Universal UTC (UUTC?) Business hours will vary based on time zone. So what - you still need to know what time zone you are calling. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/223 "2022-11-10T19:42:18Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > With Universal UTC (UUTC?) Business hours will vary based on time zone. So what - you still need to know what time zone you are calling. Plus you would have work days that straddle actual days. Like it would change from Thursday to Friday in the middle of a normal workday. Yes, that’s how graveyard shifts work now but that is a small minority of people. It’s just culturally untannable. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/224 "2022-11-10T20:01:38Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Which is why changing clocks is an additional irritant, present in some people’s selfish wants and not in others’, and should be eliminated. Well, most people in the US prefer Daylight Saving Time so who is being selfish? From a poll @DrDeth posted a few days ago: > Six in 10 Americans (61%) would do away with the nation’s twice-a-year time change while a little over one-third (35%) want to keep the current practice. Those who want to stick with a single year-round time prefer to have later sunrise and sunset hours (44%) than the earlier setting offered by standard time (13%). > > \< snip \> > > Other polls about resetting the nation’s clocks have been conducted in the past year, but not always with the same findings. A National Sleep Foundation survey conducted by Langer Research in January 2021 yielded a similar pattern to the Monmouth results, but it showed a clear majority preference for permanent daylight saving time (54%) and a lower preference for maintaining the practice of resetting clocks (27%). > > SOURCE: [Monmouth University Poll: More prefer making daylight saving time permanent](https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_us_031522/) ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/225 "2022-11-10T20:48:03Z")
Unless I’m badly misreading what you’ve posted, 61% of those polled agree with my position, which advocates doing away with the twice-a-year time change. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/226 "2022-11-10T20:49:12Z")
Yes. And most prefer permanent DST. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/227 "2022-11-10T20:51:20Z")
I think I’ve allowed myself to be misunderstood here. I don’t care at all if DST is made permanent or abolished. I just want to end this practice of changing the clocks twice a year. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/228 "2022-11-10T21:02:29Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I think I’ve allowed myself to be misunderstood But your intentions were good. Oh lord, what’s that music I hear? 😏 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/229 "2022-11-10T21:08:31Z")
Dr. Mercotan, you musical Animal ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/230 "2022-11-10T21:20:47Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Plus you would have work days that straddle actual days. Like it would change from Thursday to Friday in the middle of a normal workday. Yes, that’s how graveyard shifts work now but that is a small minority of people. It’s just culturally untannable. It’s not too bad for most places. At the ends, Los Angeles (UTC-0800) has UTC date change at 4pm local. And, Melbourne (UTC+1100) has UTC date change at 11am local. So, only one or two hours of typical 9am-5pm office hours on the other date. (Totally ignoring Pacific islands, but it’s not like “island time” isn’t already a thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/231 "2022-11-10T22:13:57Z")
I live near the central rib of the Eastern Time Zone, and I say down with DST forever. I’ve been wishing my whole life that DST would go away, and I’m glad they’re finally seriously talking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/232 "2022-11-10T22:16:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The fact the Eastern Standard time zone is bigger than it ought to be makes the problem even worse. Each time zone is ideally 15 degrees of longitude wide; every meridian that’s a multiple of 15° longitude is the central rib of its ideal time zone, which extends 7.5° to either side. The ideal Eastern Time Zone has its central rib at 75°W (near Trenton, NJ), its eastern edge at 67.5°W: eastern Maine. So that worked out well. Its western edge at 82.5° in the center of Ohio. So western Ohio, Michigan, and western Ontario are Eastern zone but too far west. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/233 "2022-11-10T22:17:06Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > And most prefer permanent DST. That’s [the _least_ popular option among Dopers (only 12%)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/2310). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/234 "2022-11-10T22:20:26Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > So western Ohio, Michigan, and western Ontario are Eastern zone but too far west. Not to mention most of Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/235 "2022-11-10T22:21:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > That’s [the _least_ popular option among Dopers (only 12%)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/2310). I suspect that is because the Dope skews to older people and older people tend to prefer standard time. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/236 "2022-11-10T22:25:11Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > and I’m glad they’re finally seriously talking about it. They’re not though. They’re seriously talking about doing away with winter time. That’s the proposal on the table: permanent DST. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/237 "2022-11-10T22:28:30Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > So western Ohio, Michigan, and western Ontario are Eastern zone but too far west. I grew up o Ohio, and I loved being on the western edge of the time zone. Later sunrise and later sunset all year round. Moving East I began to hate winter time even more. Maybe that should be the goal: draw time zones to maximize the populations that are on the western edge of a zone. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/238 "2022-11-10T23:21:52Z")
[pops in] Whatever the decision is on DST versus Standard, _someone_ is going to be unhappy. I don’t really care what solution they go with so long as it means I never have to change a clock or my sleep patterns again. Maybe we could just split the difference. The people who want DST will have things start half an hour later than they want, and the people who want standard will have things start half an hour earlier than they want, and everyone can be miserable together. [aside to @Thudlow_Boink] Isn’t DST winter and Standard summer? [pops out] ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/239 "2022-11-10T23:35:43Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Isn’t DST winter and Standard summer? Nope, just the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456/240 "2022-11-11T02:08:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > … > I suspect that is because the Dope skews to older people and older people tend to prefer standard time. Standard time: the gray choice for gray people everywhere. 😉 And yes, I’m gray too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-why-is-the-us-congress-split-on-this-matter/974456.md?page=13)