Trump ramps up pressure on US Republicans to end US clock switching

The US president published a lawmaker’s cell phone number as he called for the passage of a bill making Daylight Saving Time permanent.

Donald Trump gestures to reporters at the White House on Friday [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo]

United States President Donald Trump has increased the pressure on US Senate Republicans to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, singling out one of the body’s members for stalling legislation to end the twice-a-year changing of clocks.

In a social media post on Saturday, Trump blasted US Senator Tom Cotton for “holding up” the Sunshine Protection Act, which Trump has personally opted to call the “No More Changing of Clocks Act”.

list 1 of 3 ‘Inconvenient’: Trump aims to end ‘costly’ daylight saving time in the US

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“For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it’s very easy to do, it only takes one!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account about the Arkansas Republican. “It should pass overwhelmingly, in a Bipartisan fashion”.

“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!” he added.

Trump went even further, publishing what he claimed was Cotton’s phone number as he implored Arkansas residents to pressure him. The move echoed a moment during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when then-candidate Trump gave out US Senator Lindsey Graham’s number after the former rival criticised him.

US Senator Tom Cotton speaks to reporters at the US Capitol in Washington [File: J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]

Al Jazeera called the number listed in Trump’s post, but an automated message stated the voicemail box was full. Cotton’s spokesperson and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The president has routinely pushed Senate Republicans to pass legislation mandating year-round daylight saving, which would end Americans’ decades-long practice of changing their clocks twice a year to increase daylight hours. On Friday, Trump urged the US Senate to approve the bill, which passed the US House in July by a 308-117 vote.

Cotton has previously opposed the bill, arguing in a US Senate floor speech last year that farmers, construction workers, commuters and children heading to school would begin their days in the dark during the winter.

Trump disputed that argument in a separate post on Saturday, saying the bill “would be a very nice and easy WIN for the Republican Party”.

“If Tom Cotton were putting Arkansas first, he would give them an extra hour of daylight and, more importantly, they wouldn’t have to run all over their houses, farms, workplaces, and everywhere else, twice a year, having to change their Clocks, and often forgetting to do so”, Trump wrote.

Trump, an avid golfer, also highlighted what he considered to be another selling point of the bill: the North American Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments”, he wrote in a post, which included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp supporting the bill. “Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps more importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.”

The US president, who spent part of Saturday at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, indicated in a subsequent post that he had received personal feedback on the proposal: “I don’t know about anyone else, but a table full of very distinguished people just told me that they HATE, immediately after a mandatory time change, going home at night – and it’s DARK. It’s depressing!”

In 1974, the US Congress briefly adopted year-round daylight saving time in response to the country’s energy crisis. But Congress repealed the law less than a year later over safety concerns as children commuted to school before sunrise.

US senators left Washington this week and have no set plans to return until after the November 3 midterm elections.

Some members, such as Senator John Kennedy, weren’t optimistic that Senate Republican Leader John Thune would bring the bill up for a vote before polling day.

“It’s dead as disco,” the Louisiana Republican told Reuters this week of Trump’s push to make daylight saving time permanent. “My sense is it would have trouble passing … I don’t think the leader is going to bring it up.”

美国总统在呼吁通过一项将夏令时永久化的法案时，公布了一位议员的手机号码。

周五，唐纳德·特朗普在白宫向记者们做手势 [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普加大了对美国参议院共和党人的压力，要求他们将夏令时永久化，并特别指出该参议院的一名成员阻挠立法，以结束每年两次的时钟调整。

周六，特朗普在社交媒体上发帖抨击美国参议员汤姆·科顿“阻挠”阳光保护法案，而特朗普本人则选择将该法案称为“不再更改时钟法案”。

列表1/3 “不便之处”：特朗普计划结束美国“成本高昂”的夏令时

列表 2/3：什么是夏令时？哪些国家正在调整时钟？

问题 3（共 3 题）：为什么美国无法就现在的时间达成一致？

“不知为何，汤姆要阻止这项法案通过，但在参议院，这很容易做到，只需要一个人就够了！”特朗普在他的Truth Social账号上这样评价这位来自阿肯色州的共和党参议员。“这项法案应该以压倒性优势获得通过，得到两党支持。”

“没有人愿意把宝贵的时间浪费在到处奔波、一年两次调慢时钟上，而且下午有阳光总比清晨有阳光好！”他补充道。

特朗普的做法更加过激，他公布了据称是科顿的电话号码，并恳求阿肯色州居民向他施压。这一举动与2016年共和党总统初选期间的一幕如出一辙，当时特朗普在遭到前竞争对手林赛·格雷厄姆的批评后，也曾公开了这位参议员的电话号码。

美国参议员汤姆·科顿在华盛顿国会大厦向记者发表讲话。[图片：J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]

半岛电视台拨打了特朗普帖子中列出的电话号码，但自动语音留言称语音信箱已满。科顿的发言人和白宫均未回应置评请求。

总统一直敦促参议院共和党人通过立法，强制全年实行夏令时，这将终结美国人几十年来每年两次调整时钟以增加日照时间的做法。周五，特朗普敦促美国参议院批准这项法案，该法案已于7月在美国众议院以308票赞成、117票反对获得通过。

科顿此前曾反对该法案，他去年在美国参议院发表讲话时辩称，冬天农民、建筑工人、通勤者和上学的孩子们将在黑暗中开始他们的一天。

特朗普周六在另一篇帖子中反驳了这一说法，称该法案“对共和党来说将是一场非常漂亮且轻松的胜利”。

特朗普写道：“如果汤姆·科顿把阿肯色州的利益放在首位，他就会给他们多一个小时的日光，更重要的是，他们就不用每年两次跑遍家、农场、工作场所和其他所有地方去调整时钟，而且他们还经常忘记这样做。”

身为高尔夫球爱好者的特朗普还强调了他认为该法案的另一个卖点：北美职业高尔夫球协会 (PGA) 巡回赛。

他在一篇帖子中写道：“以PGA巡回赛为例，他们需要更多下午的日光才能完成比赛。”帖子中还附上了PGA巡回赛首席执行官布莱恩·罗拉普支持该法案的一封信。“同样，普通高尔夫球手、网球运动员、猎人，以及或许更重要的农民，他们也需要更多日光来打球或工作。”

美国总统周六在弗吉尼亚州斯特林的高尔夫俱乐部度过了部分时间，随后他在一篇帖子中表示，他已收到关于该提议的个人反馈：“我不知道其他人怎么想，但一桌非常杰出的人士刚刚告诉我，他们非常讨厌在强制调整时间后晚上回家——而且天都黑了。这太令人沮丧了！”

1974年，为了应对国家能源危机，美国国会曾短暂地通过了全年实行夏令时的法案。但不到一年后，由于担心孩子们在日出前上学会带来安全隐患，国会便废除了这项法案。

美国参议员本周离开华盛顿，在11月3日中期选举之前，他们没有返回华盛顿的计划。

一些成员，例如参议员约翰·肯尼迪，并不乐观地认为参议院共和党领袖约翰·图恩会在投票日之前将该法案提交表决。

“这就像迪斯科一样死气沉沉，”这位路易斯安那州的共和党人本周告诉路透社，指的是特朗普推动永久实行夏令时的举措。“我的感觉是，这项提案很难通过……我认为领导人不会再提起它了。”