President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of US Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill making daylight saving time permanent. Cotton, a fellow Republican and chair of the Senate intelligence committee, has been a vocal opponent of the measure.
Sunshine Protection Act faces Senate roadblocks
The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate, where some Republicans are strongly opposed. Proponents, including the president and his administration, argue the change would provide more daylight during times Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children wait for school buses and parents drive to work in darkness.
Daylight saving time is the period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the US are set one hour ahead of standard time. Not all states observe it, and under the bill, states can opt out if their legislatures act before the bill's enactment.
Trump's social media post and phone call
“For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill,” Trump wrote on social media, noting the proposal would give professional golfers more time on the greens. “So, everyone in Arkansas … tell Tom to, GET IT DONE! It will be appreciated by all.”
“Call Tom on his cellphone,” Trump added, including a phone number with an Arkansas area code. The Associated Press called the number, but no one answered, and the voicemail box was full. The Guardian also called and was greeted with a message from the service carrier saying, “The wireless customer you are calling is not available. Please try again later.”
Cotton reiterates opposition
Cotton, a member of Republican leadership, reiterated his opposition in a social media post on Saturday afternoon, though he is not the only Republican who opposes the change.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” he wrote. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”
Cotton argued last year on the Senate floor that many Arkansans wouldn't get sunrise until 8am or 8.30am during the dead of winter if daylight saving time was permanent. At the height of winter, people in Seattle wouldn't see sunrise until 9am, and in Williston, North Dakota, the sun wouldn't rise until nearly 9.45am, Cotton said.
“The darkness of permanent daylight savings time would be especially harmful for schoolchildren and working Americans,” Cotton said. “As we saw in 1974, kids would … walk to school in the pitch black.”
Trump's response and history
As he left the White House later on Saturday for a campaign rally in Ohio, Trump was asked why he had posted Cotton's phone number. “We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of every – twice a year, turning your clocks back, turning your clocks forward, being late for dinner, being late for very important meetings,” Trump replied.
Pointing to the White House behind him, Trump said he was speaking from personal experience. “Last time, six months ago, we're changing clocks, and nobody changed the clocks, and everybody's late … it discombobulates everybody,” he said.
This is not the first time Trump has released a US senator's phone number. While competing for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina described Trump as “unfit for office” after Trump denigrated the military service of Senator John McCain of Arizona. Trump then released Graham's personal cellphone number, prompting a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones. Graham later became a close ally of Trump before dying in July. McCain died in 2018.
A 2025 poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening. Only 12% of US adults favor the current system, which requires people in most states to reset clocks twice a year, while 47% are opposed and 40% are neutral.
Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942 during the second world war. The Senate passed a bill in 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.
