As Daylight Saving Time Approaches, Senator Markey Says Keep the Sunshine Coming

Boston (March 7, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement ahead of the start of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on Sunday. Senator Markey is an original cosponsor of the Sunshine Protection Act to make DST permanent. In March 2022, the Sunshine Protection Act unanimously passed the U.S. Senate.

“Every year, we set our clocks back in the Fall and say goodbye to the

sun for months of unnecessary afternoon darkness. This biannual ritual is not just frustrating and inconvenient, it also has real impacts on families and the economy,” said Senator Markey. “Congress must finally pass the Sunshine Protection Act to make this spring forward permanent. Daylight Saving Time means more time in the sun and more smiles all around.”

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, then-Representative Markey and Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966, extending the duration of DST in the Spring by changing its start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, and in the Fall by changing its end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. In 1985, then-Representative Markey partnered with Congressman Carlos Moorhead (R-Calif.) to extend DST by three weeks by changing the beginning of DST from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April.