Time enough at last: What's next after the House passes bill to do away with Daylight Saving Time?

Congress has been trying to kill the twice-a-year clock change for years now, and every time it comes up you get the same bipartisan head-nodding followed by nothing. So forgive us for not popping champagne just because the House moved a bill. We've watched this exact rerun before, complete with senators from both parties agreeing it's common sense and then the whole thing evaporating into committee somewhere.

Here's the part that actually matters and keeps getting glossed over: permanent Daylight Saving Time is not the same thing as ending the clock switch. Sleep doctors have been pretty consistent that locking in standard time is the version backed by actual circadian research, while permanent DST means kids waiting for the school bus in the dark through winter. Congress loves the sound of "no more switching your clocks" but hasn't shown much appetite for grappling with which version they're locking in, or why.

There's also a decent argument that this is exactly the kind of low-stakes, broadly popular fix Washington should be able to just do, quickly, without turning it into a culture war football or an excuse to attach unrelated riders. It polls well. Farmers, parents, and night-shift workers have different preferences but most people agree the current system is dumb. That should be enough.

If this bill actually reaches the president's desk this time, fine, good, better late than never. But we'd bet real money it stalls in the Senate again, and a year from now we'll all be writing the same story about "why can't Congress just fix the clocks." At some point the definition of insanity applies to legislating, not just to voters expecting different results.