Sunshine Protection Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for this opportunity to talk about the Sunshine Protection Act. I rise in opposition to the bill and the danger it poses to our health and safety.

This bill, sadly, is being rushed to the floor as a political bargaining chip without thorough consideration of the impacts, and we have been here before.

Permanent time is a national decision with implications for every aspect of our health and economy. It deserves a robust, thoughtful debate and an amendment process that allows Members to test each provision of the bill.

For example, we should be able to test the provision that eliminates a State's right to opt out of daylight saving time or the decision to ``stop the clock'' on daylight saving time in the first place.

I hear broad agreement in this Chamber and beyond that the twice- yearly time changes have acute health consequences, but I want to talk about the chronic long-term impacts of this bill's late winter sunrise.

Early morning light is an important environmental cue to set our bodies' internal clocks and promote alertness, and dim evening light tells our bodies that it is time to sleep.

We function best, scientists tell us, on a physical, mental, and social level when our bodies, the Sun, and the clock on the wall are all aligned.

Kids perform better at school. Workers are more alert. That is why we observe standard time in the winter months and why we should at least consider observing it year-round.

The American Medical Association, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, National Sleep Foundation, and dozens of other societies tell us that if we stop the clock, permanent standard time is a healthier choice-- permanent standard time.

That is not the debate before us. We have been here before. In 1974, children died as a result of a permanent daylight saving time attempt or trial when they were trying to go to school in the dark for hours. In 1974, this was revoked.

More than that, we aren't voting on bills right now that would reduce the sky-high costs of food, fuel, and healthcare or address the President's war in Iran. Instead, we are considering a bill that was deadly and dangerous in the past, in the seventies, that we learned from. I hope we don't have to learn that lesson again.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.

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