In 1957, rockabilly singer Bob Ehret repeated, “We’ve got to stop the clock, baby; to spend more time with you” — and in a Senate Commerce Committee listening to, lawmakers from either side of the aisle strongly thought of the advantages of doing so, in a method.
Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, stated Daylight Saving was grounded in good-faith efforts to cut back vitality consumption, however that as a substitute it has led to elevated auto accidents in the dead of night, office points and objections from the agriculture sector that depends on early-morning daylight.
“We find ourselves adjusting our clocks… springing forward and falling back in the fall. For many Americans, this biannual ritual is a minor inconvenience… But when we take a closer look at the implications of changing the clocks, its impact on our economy, our health and our everyday lives, we can see that this practice is more than an annoyance,” Cruz stated.
“The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating.”
Nonetheless, not like the early 1900s, when the U.S. financial system was closely reliant on vitality consumption tied to sunlight hours, right this moment’s results from dawn and sundown timings are “de minimis,” he stated.
Cruz, together with Massachusetts neurology doctor Dr. Karin Johnson, spoke concerning the well being considerations related to altering the time twice a 12 months and with the permanence of Daylight Saving Time (DST), versus Normal Time.
“Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep,” Cruz stated, as Johnson spoke concerning the results on folks’s circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation.
The panel additionally hosted an official from the Nationwide Golf Course House owners Affiliation, as he and different lawmakers spoke of the elevated income from night tee instances and different vacationer actions solely doable throughout daylight.
On the Democratic facet, Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester of Delaware agreed that it was time to think about a “permanent time for our country.”
She famous a invoice from then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to abolish DST stalled within the Home.
“This body [then] took a harder look at how time changes work state-by-state,” she stated.
“What works in my home state of Delaware may not work in Washington state, but I know I speak for many Americans when I say it’s time. It’s time to figure this out.”
Witnesses to the listening to famous that it’s certainly southern states like Florida and Texas the place the unfavorable results of a everlasting Daylight Saving Time could be most felt.
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., spoke about his work shifting Daylight Saving Time twice to assist assuage a few of the points that had been introduced up every time, together with higher guaranteeing trick-or-treating occurs at worst at nightfall.
Markey quipped that his decades-long work on this concern earned him the nickname “the Sun King.”
“We need to stop the clock,” Blunt-Rochester stated. “We know that changing the clock disrupts sleep, which can lead to negative health outcomes. Several studies have noted issues with mood disturbances increase hospital admissions, and even heart attacks and strokes.”
Lock the Clock motion founder Scott Yates testified concerning the flawed historical past of DST, noting a time in the course of the Seventies vitality disaster that the Nixon administration briefly made DST everlasting.
Nixon signed the legislation in December 1973 whereas embroiled in Watergate — nevertheless it took impact the primary week the next 12 months — Jan. 6, 1974.
“So you can imagine, the worst Monday of the year already is the one after the holiday break where you have to go back to school and everything — to have an extra hour of sleep robbed away right before that. You can understand why it was so unpopular and why it was repealed,” Yates stated, noting that months later, Nixon resigned.
The housebreaking by the “Plumbers” on the Watergate Resort additionally notably occurred throughout nighttime hours.
“So maybe — if we had more daylight, the Watergate break-in doesn’t happen,” Cruz quipped in response.
“And history would be different.”
