Americans may never need to change their clocks again.
Yesterday, the Senate approved legislation that - if enacted - would make daylight saving time permanent across the U.S. from next year.
The bill - called The Sunshine Protection Act - was not opposed by a single senator and passed by unanimous consent, NBC reports.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., urged her colleagues not to waste time and "get the job done."
"We got it past the Senate, and now the clock is ticking to get the job done so we never have to switch our clocks again," she said.
The Senator went on to say that it was a race against the clock to bring Americans more sunny spells in the new year.
"I urge my colleagues in the House to act as swiftly as the Senate — let’s get this bill on President Biden’s desk and deliver more sunshine to Americans across the country," she added.
Daylight saving time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918 as a way of carving out more daylight hours during the summer months. On the first Sunday in March, people across the country put their clocks forward an hour (from 2 AM to 3 AM) to give them an extra hour of light in the evenings. Then, on the first Sunday of November, the opposite change occurs and everyone puts their clock back an hour (from 2 AM to 1 AM) to give them an extra hour of light in the mornings.
Not all states observe the ritual of putting clocks backward and forwards: Hawaii does not have daylight saving hours and nor does most of Arizona. Under the new legislation, these states would be permitted to choose standard time over the new normal daylight saving time.
Co-sponsor of the legislation Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tweeted that the bill is a "bipartisan" attempt to make winters more bearable with an extra hour of light.
"It’s time for Congress to take up our bipartisan legislation to make Daylight Saving Time permanent and brighten the coldest months with an extra hour of afternoon sun," he wrote in a tweet.
Before it can be put on President Biden's desk, the bill still needs the approval of the House. In the meantime, daylight saving hours are already underway for the summer and clocks won't go back until November 6 2022.
