Our tourism industry needs the boost today more than ever. The Trump
administration's policies, including high visa fees and the detention
and harassment of legal tourists, have discouraged travelers from
visiting our country because they simply do not feel welcome.
  Meanwhile, Americans are facing an affordability crisis, forcing
families to

make difficult tradeoffs, including forgoing summer travel. For
communities like mine that rely on tourism for our local economies, an
extra hour of daylight can make all the difference.
  Extra daylight also helps to deter crime. Researchers at the
Brookings Institution found that criminal incidents decreased during an
hour of sunlight added to the evening following the springtime change.
Making that extra sunlight permanent will help keep our communities
safer.
  All of these benefits clearly explain why 19 States have already
voted to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Federal law changed
because, right now, it doesn't allow them to do that. These States
recognize the benefits, and it is time that Congress allows them to
reap those benefits.
  For States that have already chosen to follow permanent standard time
due to the unique needs of their climate or location--and that includes
Arizona and Hawaii--under this bill, they can continue to do so. Other
States are allowed under the legislation to adopt permanent standard
time prior to the bill's enactment.
  Ultimately, the benefits of stopping the biannual changing of the
clocks are numerous and clear. Moving to permanent daylight saving time
will bring much-needed evening sunlight to communities across the
United States.
  It is time we finally end the process of springing forward and
falling back. I urge my colleagues to support the Sunshine Protection
Act, and I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack), my good friend and fellow
Florida Gator.
  Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in strong support for H.R. 139, the
Sunshine Protection Act, introduced by my friend and fellow Floridian,
Congressman Vern Buchanan.
  This is one of those issues that has been highlighted here today that
brings us together as Americans, regardless of party, no matter where
you are. Everyone always asks the same question every year because we
are all equally annoyed: Why in the heck are we still changing our
clocks?
  For decades, we have accepted this ritual of springing forward and
falling back, even though it disrupts routines, throws off our sleep,
and creates unnecessary frustration for families across the country.
  I will say, Mr. Speaker, it was always a nuisance, but as a new mom
with an infant child getting the baby on a sleep schedule--and all the
moms and dads of infants know what I am talking about. You get your
schedule going, and then you have to spring forward or fall back, and
then you start cussing the dang time changes.

                              {time}  1610

  This is personal at this point. It is time we stop changing the
clocks and we start using some common sense.
  Mr. Speaker, there are lots of Floridians here in the Chamber
supporting this bill because, as Floridians--we are The Sunshine
State--we value sunshine.
  It is critical that we do this because we all know very closely and
firsthand that our communities thrive when our families have more
daylight after work and after school. That extra hour means more Little
League games, more evenings at local parks, more dinners at outdoor
patios and restaurants, more customers walking through the doors of all
of our mom-and-pop businesses, and more time for families to simply
enjoy being together.
  Again, as a Floridian, it is hot in the middle of the day in the
summer. It gets nice in Florida in the afternoons and evenings. It
would be nice for us to enjoy a little bit more time. I know I am
making this about Florida, but I am just being honest:
#MakeAmericaFlorida.
  For a State like Florida that welcomes millions of visitors every
single year, more daylight in the evening means more opportunities.
This legislation does exactly what Americans have been asking Congress
to do not just for years but decades: End outdated practices of
changing our clocks twice a year by making daylight saving time
permanent.
  It also respects the choices of States that have already opted out of
daylight saving time under current law. Let's be honest. There are very
few things that everyone agrees on these days, but whether you are a
parent, like me, trying to get your kids to sleep or get your kids out
the door for school, or you are a small business owner, a farmer, a
first responder, or someone who just wants one less thing to worry
about, changing the clocks twice a year is a hassle that most Americans
are ready to leave behind.
  We all have heard the studies here in the debate today about the real
benefits to ending these biannual clock changes. The research has
suggested that eliminating the time changes improves public safety. As
the wife of a first responder, I very much appreciate that. It reduces
disruptions to sleep and could even provide energy savings.
  This bill doesn't create any new Federal bureaucracies. It doesn't
grow the size of government, and it doesn't impose costly new
regulations. Instead, it simplifies life. It will be one less thing for
the American people to worry about.
  Sometimes the best thing in Congress that we can do is remove
unnecessary burdens that no longer serve its purposes. That is exactly
what we are doing here today.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a practical, bipartisan solution whose time, pun
intended, has come. Let's stop asking Americans to reset their clocks
every March and November. Let's provide some certainty and consistency
and a little more sunshine at the end of the day.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 139, the
Sunshine Protection Act. I thank my friend and colleague, Congressman
Vern Buchanan, for his efforts in advancing this and making this a real
change that every American can get behind.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Soto), a member of our committee.
  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for
yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to start with a little history lesson. Back in
2013, this was my bill. I wrote this bill. I thought it was a pretty
good name, the Sunshine Protection Act, back in the day. It was for
good reason.
  I had gotten to the State senate. In the State House, you can only
file a certain number of bills, but once we got to the State senate, I
really got jelling on coming up with ideas that would help our State.
Up until that point, every idea on trying to stop the clock change was
going to standard time.
  No one likes standard time. It is darkness in the wintertime, and so
we, as The Sunshine State--a lot of Floridians here--and coastal New
Jerseyans and others here from Louisiana, we like the sunshine. It made
far more sense to keep daylight saving time, which is the 8 months out
of the year that we have light in the afternoons and evenings.
  I filed that bill without a press release back in 2013. It became
statewide news. For 4 years straight, every time this bill came up, it
was the most viewed bill in the Florida Senate for 4 years straight.
  I will say that I never got a chance to pass that bill out of the
Florida Legislature, although I know some of my colleagues who are here
today ended up doing it after I was gone. It is one of the burdens of
being a Democrat in a Republican-dominated legislature.
  Mr. Speaker, here we are many years later, 13 years later, and an
idea that I got to write many years ago now is being led by great
leaders like Vern Buchanan--I am a proud cosponsor of this--and Gus
Bilirakis, a great Floridians whom I enjoy working with, and, of
course, Frank Pallone, our ranking member.
  There is a reason this bill was so popular for so long. Small
businesses like it because people, after work, go out to businesses and
get to have fun. Beach communities like it. With that one extra hour of
sunshine, kids can go out and play after school.
  We saw that people are sick of the changing of the clocks. Also, the
local farmer doesn't need Big Government to tell them what time to wake
up in the morning. They know what time they