President Donald Trump dramatically escalated his push to make daylight saving time permanent Saturday, publicly posting what he said was Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number and urging Americans to call the Arkansas senator and demand action.
Trump targeted Cotton in a series of Truth Social posts over the Sunshine Protection Act, bipartisan legislation that would end the twice-yearly ritual of changing clocks by making daylight saving time permanent across most of the United States.
“To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself. Call Tom on his cellphone at [the senator’s phone number] and let him know,” Trump wrote. “The Sunshine Protection Act” was passed in the House by a Vote of 308 to 117. HAVE THE SENATE VOTE, NOW!”
“It will be appreciated by all,” he wrote Saturday. “Nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year and, having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning!”
The House overwhelmingly approved the measure 308-117 on July 14, but it has since stalled in the Senate, where Cotton has emerged as one of its most vocal Republican opponents. “Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump wrote.
Trump then urged Arkansas residents to contact Cotton directly and published a number he identified as the senator’s cellphone. Reuters called the number and reported that it went directly to a voicemail box that did not identify its owner. Other news organizations also described it as a number Trump said or appeared to believe belonged to Cotton.
Trump’s decision to publish the number marked a significant escalation in what had been a policy disagreement between the president and one of the Senate’s prominent Republicans. Cotton chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and is also chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
He supports ending the twice-yearly clock changes but strongly opposes Trump’s preferred solution of permanent daylight saving time.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton wrote Saturday. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”
The disagreement centers on what should replace the current system. Trump and supporters of the Sunshine Protection Act favor permanent daylight saving time, which would preserve an additional hour of evening sunlight throughout the year. Cotton and other opponents argue that doing so would produce extremely late winter sunrises in some parts of the country, leaving children traveling to school and commuters heading to work in darkness.
Medical organizations including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have taken a different position, supporting permanent standard time rather than permanent daylight saving time because they say it better aligns with human circadian rhythms.
Trump has increasingly promoted the issue as the midterm elections approach. He told reporters Saturday that changing clocks twice annually “discombobulates everybody” and argued that additional evening daylight would benefit farmers, professional and recreational sports and public safety.
Trump, an avid golfer, specifically complained that earlier sunsets make it difficult to complete a full round of golf. “You know who wants it? The farmers want it. You know who wants it? Sports want it,” Trump said.
