President Donald Trump posted Senator Tom Cotton's phone number on his Twitter feed on Saturday, demanding that voters in Arkansas call the senator to pressure him into backing the Sunshine Protection Act.
Trump’s tweet came after the House of Representatives approved the bill last month by a 308‑to‑117 margin, a vote that has stalled in the Senate since. In a brief caption, the former president blasted the twice‑annual clock change as "ridiculous" and "discombobulates everybody," framing the dispute as a matter of national efficiency.
Cotton, who represents Arkansas, has been a vocal opponent, arguing that keeping daylight saving time year‑round would plunge winter mornings into darkness. He cited the 1974 federal experiment, when a temporary permanent DST was abandoned after a single year of public backlash. "Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark," Cotton wrote on X.
In the same tweet, Trump included a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, who claimed the extra evening light could allow Americans to play 23 million more rounds of golf annually. The post also urged voters to call Cotton, and the number went straight to an automated "temporarily unavailable" message.
Cotton’s office neither confirmed nor denied the phone number’s authenticity, and no comment came from the senator. Meanwhile, the Senate is scheduled to debate the Sunshine Protection Act on Thursday, a vote that could finally decide whether the United States will abandon the biannual clock shift.
For Arkansas residents, the dispute feels personal. A 15‑year‑old student from Little Rock told reporters that she prefers the current system because it gives her a clear start to her school day, even in the winter.
The next week will see whether the bill survives the Senate or remains mired in partisan gridlock, a question that will shape Americans’ daily routines for decades.