Here’s one of those issues that shouldn’t have much to do with Democrats or Republicans.
Changing the clocks twice a year is stupid.
Apparently, Tom Cotton disagrees.
The U.S. House has passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent. The vote wasn’t particularly close — 308 to 117. Republicans voted for it. Democrats voted for it.
Donald Trump wants it.
Tom Cotton doesn’t.
Cotton has said he will “always oppose” permanent daylight saving time. His argument is that it would mean darker winter mornings, particularly for schoolchildren.
That’s a legitimate argument. There are legitimate arguments for permanent standard time, too.
But here’s where Cotton loses me.
He admits changing the clocks twice a year is a problem. He doesn’t particularly like doing it either. But he doesn’t want permanent daylight saving time, and he doesn’t want permanent standard time because that would mean giving up those long summer evenings.
So his solution is basically:
Keep doing the thing everybody agrees is stupid.
This is also one of those rare issues where Cotton finds himself on the opposite side from Trump. Trump wants permanent daylight saving time. A large bipartisan majority in the House wants permanent daylight saving time.
Cotton wants Arkansas to keep springing forward and falling back.
Every. Damn. Year.
Sometimes Washington makes complicated problems complicated.
Sometimes Tom Cotton manages to make a simple problem complicated.
Odds & Ends 017
