Don’t mess with Trump.
President Donald Trump publicly shared what he identified as Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s cellphone number Saturday while criticizing the Arkansas senator over legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States.
The dispute centers on the Sunshine Protection Act, a proposal aimed at ending the twice-yearly practice of changing clocks.
Trump has been pushing Senate Republicans to advance the legislation, arguing that Americans would benefit from having more daylight during the afternoon and evening hours.
Cotton disagrees, warning that permanent daylight saving time could force millions of Americans — including schoolchildren — to begin their winter mornings before sunrise.
The disagreement has now turned into an unusually public dispute between two prominent Republicans.
Trump Calls Out Tom Cotton on Truth Social
Trump criticized Cotton in a Saturday post on Truth Social, saying the Arkansas senator was preventing an important bill from moving forward.
“Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump wrote while discussing the Sunshine Protection Act.
Trump argued that the legislation should attract significant support from both Republicans and Democrats.
The president then encouraged Arkansas residents to contact Cotton directly and included what Trump described as the senator’s cellphone number.
Trump urged voters to tell Cotton that permanent daylight saving time would represent a bipartisan victory for the country.
The public release of the number quickly added another layer to what had previously been largely a policy disagreement over how Americans should set their clocks.
House Approved Daylight Saving Time Measure
Trump blamed Cotton for helping stall the daylight saving time proposal in the Senate after related legislation passed the House by a 308-117 vote.
Trump has described the proposal as a “No More Changing of Clocks Act,” emphasizing his desire to eliminate seasonal clock changes.
Under the current system, most Americans move their clocks forward in the spring and backward in the fall.
Supporters of permanent daylight saving time argue that the practice is outdated and unnecessarily disruptive.
Critics, including Cotton, say eliminating clock changes could produce unintended consequences, particularly during the darker winter months.
Cotton Explains His Opposition
Cotton responded by pointing to previous American experiments with permanent daylight saving time.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included,” Cotton wrote on X.
However, the senator said Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time before and later reversed those policies after Americans experienced unusually late winter sunrises.
Cotton said his primary concern is what the change could mean for children traveling to school early in the morning.
“Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first,” Cotton said.
The Arkansas Republican has become one of the Senate’s most prominent opponents of permanently extending daylight saving time throughout the year.
Winter Sunrise Times Are Central to the Debate
Cotton has argued that permanent daylight saving time would create much darker mornings during winter.
For people commuting early to work or children traveling to school, that could mean beginning the day before sunrise for extended periods.
“If permanent daylight saving time becomes the law of the land, it will again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans,” Cotton said last year.
The debate highlights one of the major trade-offs involved in eliminating seasonal clock changes.
Keeping daylight saving time year-round would generally provide additional evening daylight, but sunrise would also occur later during portions of the winter.
That difference has divided lawmakers despite widespread agreement that changing clocks twice a year can be inconvenient.
Trump Points to Economic and Recreational Benefits
Trump has focused heavily on the potential advantages of having more daylight later in the day.
The president has argued that extended evening sunlight could benefit restaurants, retail businesses, tourism and recreational industries.
Trump has also said that additional daylight could potentially help reduce traffic accidents and certain types of crime.
Outdoor activities are another major part of his argument.
Trump specifically highlighted golf, tennis, hunting and farming as activities that could benefit from longer periods of afternoon daylight.
He said the PGA Tour, in particular, could benefit because tournaments would have more daylight available to complete play.
PGA Tour Supports the Proposal
Trump’s Truth Social post also included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp expressing strong support for the legislation.
According to the letter shared by Trump, permanent daylight saving time could generate an estimated $1 billion in additional annual direct revenue for the sport.
Golf organizations have an obvious financial interest in longer evenings because additional daylight can extend playing hours at courses around the country.
Restaurants, tourism companies, retailers and other businesses associated with outdoor activities could potentially see similar benefits.
Opponents argue, however, that economic advantages must be weighed against public safety concerns associated with darker mornings.
Permanent Daylight Saving Time Has a Complicated History
The United States has debated permanent daylight saving time for decades.
Congress previously experimented with keeping daylight saving time throughout the year, but public dissatisfaction with dark winter mornings contributed to those policies being reversed.
That history remains a major part of Cotton’s argument.
Supporters counter that modern lifestyles, transportation patterns and economic activity have changed significantly since earlier experiments.
The result is an unusual political issue where lawmakers from both parties can be found on either side.
Unlike many major debates in Washington, the disagreement does not divide neatly along traditional Republican and Democratic lines.
Senate Vote Remains Uncertain
Trump has been urging lawmakers to advance permanent daylight saving time since August, but Senate passage remains uncertain.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has raised questions about whether supporters can secure the 60 votes generally needed to overcome procedural hurdles and move legislation forward.
Cotton’s opposition makes that challenge more difficult.
Despite Trump’s pressure campaign, there is currently no guarantee the Senate will approve permanent daylight saving time.
Trump and Cotton Remain Divided
Trump and Cotton have frequently supported many of the same Republican priorities, making their disagreement over daylight saving time especially noteworthy.
Trump believes ending clock changes would simplify Americans’ lives while providing economic, recreational and public-safety benefits from additional evening daylight.
Cotton believes those advantages do not outweigh the potential problems caused by significantly darker winter mornings.
For millions of Americans who adjust their clocks twice every year, the debate is far from academic.
Congress must ultimately decide whether Americans should continue changing their clocks seasonally, adopt permanent daylight saving time, or pursue another approach entirely.
For now, Trump’s public pressure on Cotton has brought renewed national attention to a debate that has remained unresolved in Washington for years.