Posted on 03/17/2022 7:00:36 PM PDT by algore
WASHINGTON — The Senate’s unanimous passage of a bill to make daylight saving time permanent stunned many Americans, not least of which the senators themselves.
In a twist the Founding Fathers likely did not anticipate, quirky Senate conventions and a decision by staff in Sen. Tom Cotton’s office may result in an overhaul in the nation’s time zones.
Reporters and politicos were caught off guard Tuesday afternoon when the Sunshine Protection Act sailed through the Senate without issue, with no senators speaking up to object to it passing by unanimous consent. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, serving as Senate chair overseeing the motion at the time, broke composure, burst into a grin, and whispered, “Yes!”
“I was surprised that someone didn’t object,” she told BuzzFeed News the next day, while noting that Arizona does not change its clocks, “because we’re smart.”
Any single senator could have blocked the daylight saving bill from passing but many didn’t know it was even happening. Sen. Rick Scott, a permanent daylight saving time proponent who signed a similar bill into law when he was governor of Florida, said he would have gone to give a speech on the Senate floor if he had known. Asked to re-create his reaction to the news, Sen. Chris Coons issued a series of shocked stammers that is impossible to phonetically translate.
One Senate source with knowledge of the situation said Sen. Tom Cotton vehemently opposes making daylight saving time permanent.
“No comment,” Cotton told BuzzFeed News when asked if he opposed the bill.
The source said that Cotton would have objected to the unanimous consent request, but his staff never told him it was happening.
This is not how the Senate usually works. Passing a bill through the chamber is, by design, a long and painful process that usually results in shattered dreams and bitter failure.
Typically, to pass a bill you need to first clear it through a Senate committee, and then you need to ask the Senate majority leader to put it to a vote.
They will tell you no because Senate floor time is in high demand and they are too busy confirming judges and keeping the government funded to spend hours on your bill.
In the lucky event that your bill does move forward, you need to win over at least 60 of 100 senators, then go through hours of debate and multiple rounds of votes Passing a bill through the House is generally a lot easier than the Senate, but there is still an opportunity for standard time proponents — or clock-changing enthusiasts — to block the legislation.
One person said by a Senate source to be pushing the House to do exactly that is Tom Cotton.
Don’t care either way, haven’t changed a clock in over 10 years (since I retired).
I get up when the light comes into the southeast bedroom window, I go to bed when I get tired!
No that is just stupid.
you cut the side of the blanket.
Then you sew that onto the top.
The extra part of the side you keep.
Each time you do this the blanket really does get longer and you get your cut too.
IIRC, Permanent DST on a national basis was killed by Bob Dole leading the charge after parents’ objections came flooding in - the issue being kids having to wait for morning buses in the dark.
I am thinking they knew full well about destruction from within. The tyranny of coporate and government collusion. The bloodlust for oppression, the need to bear arms to withstand. They did not set up the senate like this and we see why.
The fedralists papers are full of these warnings.
Historic, but incorrect. They should have put us back on Standard Time. DST will make school kids vulnerable as it will be dark when they have to walk to the bus stop. This is a Pedo’s dream come true.
You are correct.
DST has the noon sun occurring at 2 in the afternoon at my longitude.
Indiana properly belongs in the Central Time zone.
Obviously! And it’s racist!
It’s going to require at least $500 billion in additional welfare spending to protect the most vulnerable.
This foolishness is yet another reason I’m glad to be where I’m at. Switching to/from Daylight Savings Time is not even a thought on anybody’s mind here...not even the most ambitious politician.
The shortest day during the winter is about 11.5 hours or so. The longest day is 12.5 hours or so. No possible reason to switch times here.
Funny. With Covid, I lost respect for “experts”. Decades ago I lost respect for the Senate. Who to trust? Flip a coin? Rock-paper-scissors? Eeny-meeny?
Another power grab by the federal government.
Either you vote or you don’t vote.
There is no “In Between”.
The airlines would put out a hit man on you.....
Glad that works for you, but if I have an appointment, I have to know what time it is in the society I live in.
Lol
I’m for this but that the Senate could pass a bill “accidently” is a damning indictment of the body.
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