Clocks across most of the United States went back one hour at 2am local time on Sunday, ending daylight saving time for 2026. The change brought sunset in New York forward to roughly 4.50pm and left the long-running push for a permanent clock still stuck in Congress. Hawaii and most of Arizona, which do not observe daylight saving time, were unaffected.

The switch came despite repeated calls from President Donald Trump to stop changing the clocks. He has described the twice-yearly shift as inconvenient and costly, and has urged lawmakers to act. The Sunshine Protection Act, reintroduced in the Senate by Rick Scott, the Republican senator for Florida, would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide. It has not passed both chambers. A version cleared the Senate by unanimous consent in 2022 but died in the House of Representatives. The House later passed the bill (H.R. 139) on 14 July 2026 by 308-117, and it is now stalled in the Senate.

The extra hour arrived on the same morning as the New York City Marathon, giving tens of thousands of runners an additional hour before the early start on Staten Island. Utility companies and fire departments, including the US Fire Administration, used the weekend to remind households to test smoke alarm batteries. Road safety groups warned that darker evening commutes typically bring a rise in pedestrian collisions during November.

Sleep scientists have opposed the Sunshine Protection Act's approach. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has said that permanent standard time, not permanent daylight saving time, better matches the human body clock.

The academy has argued that darker winter mornings under year-round daylight saving time would harm sleep and school-age children. That split among supporters of ending the clock change has helped keep legislation stalled, with lawmakers divided over which time to lock in.

More than a dozen states, including Florida, Washington and Tennessee, have passed laws to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Congress allows it. Federal law currently permits states to stay on standard time all year but not on daylight saving time. Clocks are due to spring forward again on March 14, 2027, unless Congress acts before then.