Congress hates changing the clocks just like everyone else

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress can agree on sleep, or more precisely, the inconvenience of losing or gaining an hour of it each year thanks to going on and off daylight saving time.

“I believe that any justifications for springing forward and falling back are either outdated or are outweighed by the serious health and economic impacts we now know are associated with the time changes,” U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone of New Jersey said this week.

As Americans prepare to adjust their clocks this weekend for daylight saving time, lawmakers at an Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on Wednesday assembled a panel of experts to discuss the health, energy and economic impacts of the shift twice a year.

Congress would have to authorize a change in federal law to allow permanent daylight saving time, but it’s not clear there is the momentum to do that.

Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, which means clocks in most of the U.S. will be turned forward one hour and there will be more light at the end of the day. Daylight saving time will end on Nov. 6.

“Darkness kills and sunshine saves,” Steve Calandrillo, a law professor from the University of Washington, said at the hearing.