Reporter's Notebook: Daylight saving time fight puts Senate up against a ticking clock

The U.S. Senate is on the clock. In a matter of speaking. Or ticking.

The House of Representatives approved a bill earlier this year to thrust the nation onto permanent daylight saving time. In other words, the House voted to ditch the twice-a-year ritual of springing forward and falling back. Now its up to the Senate to sync up.

"Around the country, people are going to be excited because they dont have to go back and forth," opined Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., one of the biggest advocates of shifting to year-round daylight saving time.

Under this temporal regime, Florida and many southern states would benefit from "more" sun later in the afternoon and evening in the winter.

Scott isnt the only one who says time should expire for daylight saving time.

"People are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year. It is foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly. For Cities and States with Watchtowers, and hard to reach places, it costs Millions of Dollars," declared President Donald Trump in a post on his social media site Truth Social.

Its unclear whether Trump was trying to reach voters with allegiances to Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan when writing about "Watchtowers." But if the president has his way, the times wont be "A Changin," later this fall. Wed be welded to daylight saving time.

President Trump continued.

"This is an issue that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can unite behind. I am asking Republican Senators to release their holds, and allow the hotline to clear on the Republican side. LETS PASS THE SUNSHINE PROTECTION ACT, ASAP," he wrote.

Lets dial things back a bit here and dissect the title of this bill: "The Sunshine Protection Act."

First, there is a finite amount of sunshine available, period. Any time of the year. Bellingham, Washington, scores only about eight-and-a-half hours of sunlight around the winter solstice in December. And whether were on daylight saving time or standard time, the sheer amount of sun doesnt change.

The only thing that differs is at what time Bellingham gets that sun. Under standard time (following the autumn clock shift), the earliest the sun sets in Bellingham is 4:13 p.m. in mid-December. But under permanent daylight saving time, you can sing good day, sunshine, at 3:13 p.m. The problem is that the sun goes down really early in northern states in the winter under year-round daylight saving time. But southern states — like Florida — benefit.

The reason Congress even bothers with this issue is because Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants the House and Senate authority to establish the "Standard of Weights and Measures." So all Congress is doing is determining a temporal regimen.

In short, if Congress says its 3 oclock, its 3 oclock. But if we fall back in November, then 3 oclock is really 2 oclock.

However, leave it to Congress to create the illusion that it is safeguarding something for the voters, such as "protecting" sunshine. Or, giving everyone an "extra hour" in the winter. Its just saying that everything would start earlier.

Thats all.

Regardless, the push to embrace daylight saving time isnt partisan.

"People across New Mexico and across so many parts of the country don't want to be changing