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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy claim their newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will slash government spending and make America more efficient. They also appear to have a new side project: abolishing Daylight Saving Time.
Musk and Ramaswamy, who will be running DOGE under the direction of President-elect Donald Trump, were reacting initially to a poll on X (META+0.01%) about getting rid of Daylight Saving Time. More than 81% of people who voted in James Stephenson’s poll said they wanted to get rid of the practice, and Musk reacted by saying, “Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” Ramaswamy responded by saying, “It’s inefficient & easy to change.”
But is it actually easy to change?
Musk and Ramaswamy would need Congress to pass a law to abolish Daylight Savings Time since the time change is governed by federal law. That said, there is some bipartisan support for the measure.
“Switching the clocks just doesn’t make sense for a country on the move,” Sen. Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told The Washington Post in a statement. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, also expressed interest in getting rid of it.
However, there is some debate on whether to permanently adopt Daylight Saving Time or Standard Time.
Markey said, “We need permanent daylight saving time — more hours of daylight in the evening means more hours to get things done.”
That’s what Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida who was appointed to be Trump’s Secretary of State, has also proposed. His Sunshine Protection Act, introduced in 2018 and passed unanimously by the Senate in March 2022, would make daylight saving time permanent. The bill stalled in the House of Representatives without coming to a vote.
However, sleep experts and other advocates favor permanent standard time, arguing that morning sunlight is crucial for children’s safety and people’s natural circadian rhythms.
Trump previously expressed support for making Daylight Saving Time permanent in 2019, but the movement to actually make the change has never gotten off the ground.
