President Donald Trump’s effort to end the twice-yearly clock change by making Daylight Saving Time permanent has cleared the House, but the proposal faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where lawmakers remain sharply divided—not along party lines, but over geography.

The House approved the Sunshine Protection Act last week, legislation that would allow states to observe Daylight Saving Time year-round. While the measure has Trump’s support, Senate leaders say it faces significant resistance from members who have strong concerns about its impact.

“That is an issue in which there are passionate views on both sides,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said when asked whether the Senate would take up the bill.

“So we’ll see,” he continued. “I mean, the House having acted on it now, we’ll see what the interest level is in the Senate. But I know that there are people who are willing to really slow things down over that issue.”

Supporters argue that eliminating the seasonal clock changes would spare Americans the inconvenience of resetting their clocks twice each year while providing more evening daylight. Opponents counter that permanent Daylight Saving Time would leave many children heading to school before sunrise, particularly in northern states during the winter months.

One of the legislation’s most outspoken critics is Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a close Trump ally, who has previously vowed to oppose making Daylight Saving Time permanent.

A source familiar with Cotton’s position told Fox News Digital that the senator is “far from the only one who objects” to the proposal. The source also noted that the bill includes a provision requiring states to have already approved permanent standard time before the Sunshine Protection Act could take effect.

Currently, only Hawaii and Arizona remain on permanent standard time under state law, while no state observes permanent Daylight Saving Time.

Congress has experimented with permanent Daylight Saving Time before, but the effort proved short-lived.

“Congress has already tried changing to permanent Daylight Saving Time before,” the source said. “It was so thoroughly hated that Congress reversed course the following year — but almost no one knows that.”

During the 1970s, lawmakers briefly adopted year-round Daylight Saving Time, but public opposition quickly mounted, particularly from parents concerned about children waiting for school buses in darkness. Congress repealed the policy after roughly one year.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said those concerns remain relevant today.

“I can’t support a motion to go to Daylight Saving Time, because it means that the kids in South Dakota ended up going to school in the dark for about the first hour of classes for more than six months out of a year,” Rounds said. “So we can’t do that.”

Backers of the legislation maintain that the country has changed significantly since the policy was first introduced and that Americans are ready to eliminate the biannual clock change.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who first introduced the Sunshine Protection Act alongside then-Sen. Marco Rubio about a decade ago, argued that the debate is driven more by regional differences than political ideology.

He described the proposal as “not a partisan issue, it’s a preference issue,” while acknowledging that many parents remain worried about darker mornings for schoolchildren.

“This is left over from World War I when America was trying to save lamp oil. We’re doing OK on lamp oil now, so that’s not the issue on it,” Lankford said. “With streetlights, with different power and things, we have — we’re in a very different situation. And I talk to a lot of folks that say they are just sick of the time change. They want to be able to lock the clock.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who reintroduced the legislation last year, praised the House’s approval of the bill and said the proposal enjoys overwhelming support in his home state.

“It’s one of the most popular things in my state,” Scott said. “You wouldn’t believe how much I get asked about this.”

Scott acknowledged that opposition has largely come from lawmakers representing northern states, but argued that individual states should be free to decide whether to adopt permanent Daylight Saving Time.

“Give me the chance — I mean, look, in my state, the ability, we want to do it,” Scott said.