Most Americans will gain an hour of sleep this weekend. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 1, when clocks move back to 1 a.m. standard time, despite a bill in Congress that would end the seasonal switch for good.
The House of Representatives voted in July to keep the country on daylight saving time year-round, but the measure has not advanced in the Senate. Until both chambers agree and the president signs it, federal law still requires the change.
When to change the clocks
Under the federal rules, daylight saving time runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. In 2026, the first Sunday of the month falls on November 1, the earliest date the change can occur. The Farmers’ Almanac, citing the National Institute of Standards and Technology, reports that this year’s daylight period began on March 8.
People who still use manual clocks can set them back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night, October 31. Standard time will then last until Sunday, March 14, 2027, when clocks are scheduled to spring forward again.
The rules governing the switch are set out in the standard time provisions of Title 15 of the U.S. Code, ABC News noted.
Who does not change
Not everyone in the country adjusts. According to the Department of Transportation, as cited by ABC News, most of Arizona and Hawaii stay on standard time all year. So do the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Navajo Nation is the exception inside Arizona. It observes daylight saving time, matching its neighboring lands in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
Where the Sunshine Protection Act stands
The bill that would end the clock changes is the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, listed as H.R. 139 and sponsored by Representative Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican. The House passed it on July 14, 2026, by a vote of 308 to 117, according to both ABC News and the Farmers’ Almanac. The measure would effectively keep most of the country on daylight time permanently, which means later sunsets in winter.
The Senate received the bill on July 15 and referred it to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The Farmers’ Almanac reported that the committee listing still showed it there as of September 23. ABC News described the legislation as stalled in that chamber.
For the proposal to become law, the Senate would have to pass it and the president would have to sign it. If senators change the text, the House and Senate would also need to approve identical versions before it could reach the White House.
The arguments on each side
Supporters say permanent daylight time would help the economy and encourage people to spend more time outdoors in the evening. Representative Gus Bilirakis, another Florida Republican, made that case on the House floor.
“In a state like Florida, my home state of Florida, where tourism is a cornerstone of our economy, having more predictable daylight hours is a practical improvement that benefits workers, businesses, and visitors alike,” Bilirakis said in Congress on July 14.
Opponents of the bill have argued that a change affecting most of the country deserves more study and debate before it is adopted, ABC News reported.
The country has tried a version of this before. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Congress changed the clock rules to save energy, but the experiment was quickly reversed after parents objected to sending their children to school in the dark early-morning hours, ABC News recounted. The legislation behind it was repealed in 1974.
What it means this weekend
For now, nothing about this year’s schedule has changed. Barring action by the Senate and the president, which has not happened, residents of every state that observes daylight saving time will fall back early Sunday, and the debate over whether to stop changing the clocks will continue into 2027.
Readers in Arizona, Hawaii and the territories that already stay on standard time will see no change to their clocks, though the time difference between them and the rest of the country will shift by one hour.
