BS BULLETIN:

• The House overwhelmingly passed legislation that could finally end the twice-a-year clock-changing ritual.
• President Trump wants permanent daylight saving time, but Republican Sen. Tom Cotton is digging in against it.
• Trump responded by publishing Cotton’s cellphone number and telling Arkansas voters to call him.

Of all the things that could start a Republican civil war in Washington, apparently we have arrived at: What time is it?

President Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on the Senate to approve legislation that would allow states to observe daylight saving time year-round and finally put an end to the twice-a-year ritual of changing the clocks.

Standing in the way is Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

And Trump has taken notice.

The president unloaded on Cotton over the weekend: “Almost everybody wants ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ to pass, except for Tom Cotton.”

Then Trump took things somewhere rather unusual even by Washington standards.

He posted what appeared to be Cotton’s personal cellphone number and invited the people of Arkansas to contact their senator. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

He finished with: “GET IT DONE!”

Nothing says legislative persuasion quite like giving several million people your colleague’s phone number.

Cotton, however, isn’t budging.

He responded publicly: “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changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Saving Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter.”

Then he delivered the argument that has become the biggest obstacle for the bill: “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

And Cotton isn’t alone.

Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Mike Rounds of South Dakota have raised similar objections, arguing that permanent daylight saving time would produce extremely late winter sunrises in parts of the country.

Daines put the regional divide rather colorfully: “I can see where Florida likes it for tee times at certain times of the year, but it doesn’t work so well for moms and dads putting kids on buses when the sunrise in Western Montana wouldn’t be till 9:30 in the morning.”

Ouch.

The golf reference is particularly well aimed considering who is leading the charge from the White House.

But Trump has his own argument.

He wants later sunsets and has argued that permanent daylight saving time would give Americans more useful daylight in the evening. Supporters also point to benefits for recreation and businesses that thrive when people have more daylight after work.

Trump even circulated a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp supporting the legislation.

The House apparently agreed with the basic idea.

It passed the Sunshine Protection Act in July by an overwhelming 308–117 vote.

Then it reached the Senate.

Where, as legislation sometimes does, sunshine went to die.

Cotton has vowed to block attempts to approve the measure through unanimous consent. With senators facing a packed legislative calendar after the midterm elections, Republican leaders acknowledge there may not be enough floor time — or enough votes — to force the issue.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso explained the problem this summer: “Depends where you’re living in the country and the impact — what it would be, in your own home state.”

That’s the strange part of this fight. It isn’t neatly Republican versus Democrat.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington supports permanent daylight saving time alongside Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

Meanwhile, Republicans including Cotton, Daines and Rounds oppose it.

The dividing line is increasingly geography.

Florida wants evening sunshine. Montana would prefer its schoolchildren not require night-vision goggles at the bus stop.

And we’ve actually tried the permanent-DST experiment before.

Congress imposed year-round daylight saving time during the 1970s energy crisis. Public enthusiasm collapsed when Americans experienced those dark winter mornings, particularly as children headed to school before sunrise.

Congress reversed course. Which is exactly the history Cotton keeps pointing toward.

So unless the Senate suddenly finds both the votes and the time, Americans are still scheduled to perform the national ritual on November 1:

Walk around the house trying to remember which clocks fix themselves and which ones don’t.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

• Fox News — Battle over Daylight Saving Time erupts as push to stop changing clocks hits Senate wall
• Associated Press — Trump posts cell phone number of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton in fight over daylight saving time
• CBS News — Trump urges calls to Sen. Tom Cotton in battle over permanent daylight saving time
• Washington Post — Trump reveals Tom Cotton’s phone number in daylight saving time standoff