Bid to make Daylight Saving permanent: Marco Rubio blasts 'outdated' tradition and Democrat Markey warns US is sacrificing 'energy savings and crime reduction' in favor of darkness – as America prepares to go back an hour

A group of lawmakers is renewing a push to make Daylight saving time permanent ahead of this weekend’s ‘fall back’ when clocks will be switched back one hour. 

Connecticut Democrat Sen. Ed Markey, who introduced the legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the change would lead to energy savings and crime reduction. 

‘When we “fall back” and lose the extra hour of daylight saving time on Sunday, we are sacrificing energy savings, crime reduction and economic benefits for darkness,’ he said in a statement. 

‘Over the years, I’ve fought and won to extend daylight saving time—adding two months’ worth of sun to the American people’s calendar, which saves the same amount of electricity as used by over 100,000 households for an entire year,’ the senator went on. 

‘It’s past time for Congress to take up the Sunshine Protection Act and make daylight saving time permanent to keep the sun shining.’ 

Read Related Also: ‘Momma was in blood’: 2-year-old Says Missing Georgia Mother Was Last Seen ‘Laying in blood’

Connecticut Democrat Sen. Ed Markey, who introduced the legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the change would lead to energy savings and crime reduction

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., introduced companion legislation in the House.  

In 2005, then-Rep. Markey and former Rep. Fred Upton amended the Uniform Time Act to increase the amount of time spent on Daylight Saving Time each year. It changed the start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March and changed its end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. 

Making daylight saving time permanent is one of the rare matters with bipartisan support in Congress, and yet neither chamber has advanced legislation to do so. 

The clocks will turn back one hour at 2 a.m. November 5 to standard time everywhere except for Hawaii and Arizona, both of which permanently observe standard time. 

The biannual time change began as a way to preserve electricity during World War I. In recent years, many Americans wish it would go away: only 25 percent said they want to keep changing their clocks.