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Trump Urges Calls to Cotton Over Daylight Saving Time
Confirmed
In Short: President Donald Trump published Sen. Tom Cotton's personal cellphone number, urging constituents to call and pressure Cotton to support permanent daylight saving time.
President Donald Trump published Sen. Tom Cotton's personal cellphone number on social media Saturday, urging Arkansas residents to call and pressure Cotton to support the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent.
The bill, which passed the House in July with bipartisan support, aims to keep clocks one hour ahead year-round, providing more daylight during peak hours.
Cotton, a Republican senator and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been a vocal opponent of the measure, arguing that it would make winter mornings darker and potentially more hazardous.
In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Cotton of holding up the legislation, writing, 'For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill.' He also noted that the change would benefit professional golfers and other outdoor enthusiasts.
Cotton has long opposed the measure, citing concerns about the impact on winter mornings. 'If permanent daylight savings time becomes the law of the land, it will again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans,' he said in a 2025 floor speech.
Trump argued that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active, and that no one likes changing the clock twice a year.
Proponents of the bill, including the White House, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active, citing a 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showing that most Americans would prefer to keep the extra hour of daylight in the evening.
Cotton has pointed to the 1970s, when Congress did institute permanent daylight saving time but eventually reversed course after public opinion on it tanked.
Background
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time, or summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer by having darkness fall at a later clock time. The typical implementation of DST is to adjust clocks ahead of standard time by one hour in spring or late winter, and to set clocks back by one hour in the autumn.
What's confirmed
- “For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill,” Trump wrote.
What's still developing
- FILE - Clockmaker Scott Gow adjusts the hands of a clock at the Electric Time Company, Oct.
- Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, June 2, 2026.
- He said the legislation should be bipartisan and cited golfers, tennis players, hunters and farmers among those who could benefit from longer daylight.
- “These highly concentrated benefits for a few industries in a few regions are offset by widely distributed costs across many more industries throughout the entire country,” Cotton said in a speech.
- It’s not the first time Trump has publicly disclosed a fellow Republican’s phone number.
- “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!” The Arkansas Republican has long opposed the measure, warning that it would “push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour,” as The Daily Wire previously reported.
- “And that’s to say nothing of moms sending their kids to school in the dark of night.” The Daily Wire has reached out to Cotton’s office for comment.