President-elect Donald Trump wants to end daylight saving time.
In a tweet on his social networking site Friday, Trump stated that when he returns to power, his party will endeavor to abolish the practice.
“The Republican Party will make every attempt to repeal Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but powerful constituency, but it shouldn’t! He wrote, “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient and very costly to our nation.”
Setting the clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is designed to optimize daylight during the summer, but it has long been criticized. Daylight saving time was introduced as a wartime measure in 1942.
Lawmakers have periodically considered eliminating the time change completely. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan initiative called the Sunshine Protection Act, suggested making daylight saving time permanent.
The bill was sponsored by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump has chosen to lead the State Department.
“Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate approved the legislation.
Health experts believe that lawmakers have it backwards and that standard time should be made permanent.
Some health organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have stated that it is time to eliminate time shifts and that sticking to normal time is more in line with the sun — and human biology.
Most countries do not observe Daylight Saving Time. For those who do, the date when clocks are adjusted changes, resulting in a complex tapestry of shifting time discrepancies.
Arizona and Hawaii do not change their clocks at all.
