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Florida lawmakers push for permanent daylight saving time, support growing on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Still groggy after losing an hour of sleep because we switched to daylight saving time over the weekend?

You’re not the only one.

“I would say the vast majority of people would say just pick one and stay with it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said.

Rubio wants to ditch the switch and keep daylight saving time all year round. His state is already on board with the idea.

“I went to my barber one day – and it was the day after we had set the clocks back a couple of years ago – and they started asking me, ‘Why do we have to set out clocks back every year?’” Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) said.

Steube, then a state legislator from the Tampa Bay area, went from the barbershop to the Florida House and filed a bill to lock the clock.

The Sunshine Protection Act became law in Florida in 2018, but it needs approval from Congress to take effect.

Steube and Rubio are pushing the Sunshine Protection Act on Capitol Hill and it’s gaining momentum on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic senators Ron Wyden from Oregon, Dianne Feinstein from California and Doug Jones from Alabama have all co-sponsored Rubios’ bill.

President Donald Trump signaled he’d sign the bill, tweeting after last year’s switch, “making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me.”

“Obviously it’s not the biggest issue facing the country, but it’s an issue that more and more people want us to address and I feel pretty optimistic that at some point here soon we will,” Rubio added.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it can take up to one week for us to adjust to the time change causing sleep deprivation, health issues and even car accidents.

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