Daylight Saving Time: Clocks Spring One Hour Forward Tonight—As Trump Suggests He Won’t Change It
President Donald Trump has grown less aggressive about getting rid of a national time change, saying Thursday ending daylight saving time is a “50-50 issue”—changing his previous stance that the time change is “inconvenient” just days before clocks will spring forward.
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on … [+]
When asked in the Oval Office on Thursday when he was going to remove daylight saving time, Trump said, “it’s a 50-50 issue, and if something’s a 50-50 issue it’s hard to get excited about it.”
Trump said he assumed people would like to have more light later in the day, but that “some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”
“It’s something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way, it’s very even, and usually I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?” Trump said Thursday.
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It’s unclear, though his comments Thursday evening indicate he is leaning against removing it. As recently as December, Trump said on Truth Social the “Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate” daylight saving time, which he said “has a small but strong constituency” and is “very costly to our Nation.” Trump could not remove daylight saving time alone: Getting rid of it would require an act from Congress and approval from the president.
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Until Sunday, the U.S. is in standard time, or ST. Beginning Sunday at 2 a.m., most U.S. states will move to daylight saving time, or DST.
Daylight saving time begins overnight, on Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. People in most of the U.S. will turn their clocks forward one hour, meaning they will lose one hour of sleep, but the sun will set an hour later until daylight saving time ends on Nov. 2.
Unclear. On Wednesday, key Trump adviser Elon Musk took to X to ask Americans what they wanted to see happen to daylight saving time. Musk asked X users if daylight saving time was canceled, what would they prefer, and 58.1% of respondents said they’d prefer an hour later, while 41.9% said an hour earlier.
Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March each year and runs through the first Sunday in November. The practice was first established in 1918 as a wartime policy designed to give people more daylight, though it was repealed and became a local matter shortly after, according to the U.S. Navy Astronomical Applications Department. Daylight saving time was brought back nationwide in 1966 through the Uniform Time Act, and has stuck around despite opponents believing it does more harm than good to peoples’ health. People who want to see daylight saving time end argue it’s associated with increased heart problems, car crashes and mood disorders, according to the American Medical Association, which has previously advocated for a permanent move to standard time. Proponents of the time change, though, say people are grateful to have more sunshine after the traditional work day and that the policy can reduce energy usage and improve quality of life. Lawmakers have worked to make changes to daylight saving time for years, and got closest in 2022 when the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act that would have made the practice permanent and gotten rid of the switch to standard time—though the House never took up a vote on the bill.
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Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy Toy With Eliminating Daylight Saving Time Changes—As Some States Push To End Practice (Forbes)
Trumps Says Republicans Will Work To Eliminate Daylight Saving Time (Forbes)
Molly Bohannon is a reporter on the news team, where she covers a range of breaking news stories including politics,… Read More
Molly Bohannon is a reporter on the news team, where she covers a range of breaking news stories including politics,
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KEY FACTS
WILL TRUMP GET RID OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
IS IT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
WHEN EXACTLY DOES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGIN?
WHAT’S ELON MUSK’S TAKE ON DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
WHY DOES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME EXIST?
FURTHER READING
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Daylight saving time starts Sunday. What to know about ‘springing forward.’
Daylight saving time starts Sunday. What to know about ‘springing forward.’
After a long winter of short days, it’s finally time to spring forward.
Clocks across the U.S. will jump from 1:59 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday.
Here’s what you need to know about daylight saving time and why we change the clocks twice a year in the U.S.
Daylight saving time will start Sunday and last until Nov. 2. Standard time will have been in effect from Nov. 3, 2024, until Sunday.
The springtime clock change differs from the fall. Unlike the fall, when we gain an extra hour and the clocks fall back, we lose an hour in the spring.
But that turns into longer days and brighter evenings as the spring and summer months begin. It will remain in effect until we turn the clocks back to standard time, which comes back into effect on Nov. 2 as we ready for winter and usher in an era of shorter days.
The U.S. has been observing daylight saving time since 1918, with the passage of the Standard Time Act, according to the U.S. Astronomical Applications Department. It was an effort to extend summertime daylight hours by pushing off sunset an hour.
Daylight saving time wasn’t totally accepted at first — it was quickly repealed in 1919, making the changing of clocks a local matter. The practice was officially reinstated during the early days of World War II and was observed from 1942-45, according to the department.
Daylight saving time varied by state until 1966 with the passage of the Uniform Time Act, which standardized dates of daylight saving time, but allowed for states and localities to opt out of the practice if they did not want to participate.
Since that act passed, the standardized dates have been changed throughout the years, according to the department.
But the dates have remained the same since 2007. Since then, daylight saving time has started on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November.
Yes. Residents in Hawaii and most of Arizona won’t lose an hour of sleep Sunday night. The two states do not observe daylight saving time and do not change the clocks twice a year, according to the Astronomical Applications Department.
The U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent year-round and usher out the era of changing clocks, in March 2022. Under the bill, Hawaii and most of Arizona would continue to observe year-round standard time.
But the bill stalled in the House of Representatives, so the U.S. will continue to flip the clocks twice a year until new legislation is passed in the House and Senate and then signed by the sitting president.
President Donald Trump addressed the practice this week when asked by a reporter when he is going to “get rid of” daylight saving time.
“I assume people would like to have more light late, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark,” he said, calling the issue “50-50.”
“But a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way. It’s very even,” he said. “And usually, I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?”
Shortly after winning the election last year, Trump said he and Republicans would try to “eliminate” daylight saving time, calling it inconvenient and costly. It was unclear at the time whether he was referring to eliminating daylight saving time or making it permanent.
Almost all U.S. states have considered legislation to avoid changing the clocks, staying on either standard or daylight saving time year-round.
In the last six years, 20 states have passed bills or resolutions to codify year-round daylight saving time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But since federal law does not currently allow year-round daylight saving time, those states are in a holding pattern until Congress passes the bill to make the change.
No, many other countries observe some version of “summer time,” whether that’s daylight saving time or their own version. Not all do so on the same schedule as the U.S., though.
In the Southern Hemisphere, for example, the seasons are swapped, so the start and end date of “summer time” are reversed from ours, according to the Astronomical Applications Department.
Some studies suggest that using daylight saving time year-round could reduce the number of traffic accidents and the amount of crime, but a number of experts are against longer days year-round.
According to some sleep experts, the sun should reach the highest point in the sky at noon, or solar time, which occurs during standard time.
A study from June 2022 found that people whose clock times weren’t closely aligned with the sun had 22% higher road fatality rates than those living within 30 minutes of solar time.
CORRECTION (March 8, 2025, 3:26 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated how often the clocks change. It is twice a year, not every six months.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
How long will daylight saving time last?
Why do we change the clocks?
Are there any states that don’t observe the time change?
Is anyone trying to change the practice?
Is the U.S. the only country that changes the clocks?
What do health experts say?
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Daylight saving time 2025 is starting: When do we ‘spring forward’ an hour?
Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 9, 2025.
Just a few months after daylight saving time ended in November, it’s time to spring forward.
Daylight saving time begins this year on Sunday, March 9.
In the United States, daylight saving time begins annually on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
When daylight saving time begins in March, clocks “spring forward” one hour, bringing a shift in both sunlight and our body’s circadian rhythms.
Here are 10 questions answered about the upcoming time change.
Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 9, with clocks rolling forward one hour at 2 a.m.
With the change, it will stay lighter later in the evening across the United States. The first day of spring this year occurs March 20.
When clocks “spring forward” to start daylight saving time, people lose one hour of sleep.
On the eve of daylight saving time, falling asleep at 10 p.m., for example, will really be like falling asleep at 11 p.m., once clocks roll forward one hour at 2 a.m.
Daylight saving time will continue through Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. At that time, clocks again fall back one hour.
Yes, businesses including Grubhub, Burger King, Kroger and Starbucks are helping customers spring forward with special savings.
Kroger, for example, is offering customers a Kroger Hour Back Box, a pre-packed box of time-saving essentials that includes coffee, frozen breakfast sandwiches and a one-year Kroger Boost membership complete with free delivery and more.
Customers can visit the specialty site here to claim a free Kroger Hour Back Box that will be shipped directly to their door, while supplies last.
Daylight saving time became established law in the U.S. in 1918 with the passage of the Standard Time Act, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory’s astronomical applications department.
The time change was implemented as a way to maximize daylight hours to help save on energy consumption during World War I.
Over the next several decades, legislators made unsuccessful efforts to repeal daylight saving time nationally, and some individual states and cities reverted to non-daylight saving time hours.
In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which established a uniform daylight saving time throughout the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the federal agency that oversees time zones.
Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states that observe daylight saving time must follow the federally-mandated start and end dates.
States may also “exempt themselves from observing daylight saving time by state law,” according to the DOT.
In 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a measure, the Sunshine Protection Act, that would have made daylight saving time permanent across the U.S., however, the legislation was never brought to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A few weeks prior to taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump wrote on social media that he would work to put an end to daylight saving time and make standard time year-round.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” Trump wrote in a Dec. 13 social media post. “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Daylight saving time is often mistakenly pluralized as daylight “savings” time.
The correct way to say it is “daylight saving time.”
Hawaii and Arizona — with the exception of the Navajo Nation — are the only two states in the nation that do not participate in daylight saving time, according to the DOT.
In addition, five U.S. territories also do not participate in daylight saving time: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Some health experts argue that daylight saving time disrupts the body’s natural day-to-night rhythms.
In 2023, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine formed a coalition to advocate for state and federal legislation making standard time permanent across the U.S. Other organizational members include the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, Sleep Research Society and Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
The shift in time has been associated with increased heart attacks, strokes, abnormal heart rhythms, sleep disruption, mood disturbances and even suicide, according to a position statement published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula recommends that ahead of changing the clock, people gradually shift their bedtime 15 minutes earlier each night to allow for more sleep.
In the days immediately following the start of daylight saving time, Narula said people should get outside early in the morning for sunlight and avoid alcohol, caffeine and screens, like televisions and phones, before bedtime.
Narula added that it’s also OK to take naps if you feel fatigued due to the time change, but try to limit the nap to around 20 minutes and take it before 2 p.m.
Younger kids in particular can be thrown by the change in time, but there are steps that parents and guardians can take to help, according to parenting expert Ericka Sóuter.
Sóuter recommends encouraging more physical activity during the day to ensure kids are tired at bedtime, serving healthy food options to kids during the day and shutting down devices at least one hour before bedtime.
Sóuter said it’s also important that kids keep their regular sleep schedule over the weekend and that they have a dark, comfortable place to sleep at night. For parents of young children, Souter said they can also consider shortening their kids’ afternoon naps.
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