NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump has expressed his intention to eliminate daylight saving time. In a recent message on his social media platform, he indicated that his party would make efforts to abolish the practice once he returns to office.

“The Republican Party will strive to put an end to Daylight Saving Time, which may have a small but influential following, yet shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is not only inconvenient but also incurs significant costs for our nation,” he stated.

The practice of moving clocks forward by one hour in the spring and reverting back in the fall aims to enhance daylight during the summer months. However, it has faced criticism for many years. Daylight saving time originated in 1942 as a measure to conserve energy during wartime.

There have been occasional proposals to eliminate the time change altogether. A notable recent effort, a bipartisan initiative known as the Sunshine Protection Act, sought to establish daylight saving time as a permanent arrangement. This legislation was backed by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has been appointed by Trump to oversee the State Department.

“Adjusting the clocks twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” stated Republican Senator Rick Scott from Florida during a Senate vote that supported this measure.

Health professionals, however, argue that the opposite should be true — advocating for permanent standard time instead. Organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have emphasized doing away with clock changes, asserting that maintaining standard time aligns more consistently with natural sunlight and human biology.

Globally, most countries do not practice daylight saving time. For those that do, the specific dates for changing clocks differ from one region to another, leading to a confusing web of varying time differences. Notably, states like Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time at all.