Do the clocks still go back this year after the House voted to end it

Yes — American clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday 1 November, exactly as they always have. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on 14 July by 308 votes to 117, which would make daylight saving time permanent, but it has not passed the Senate and has not been signed, so nothing about this autumn has changed. The more useful thing to know if you fly, call or work across the Atlantic is that Europe changes a week earlier, on 25 October, and for those seven days every US–Europe time difference is an hour shorter than usual.

Where the permanent-time bill actually stands

Halfway, and the harder half is left. The House roll call on 14 July was 308 in favour and 117 against, with Republicans voting 193 to 22 and Democrats 114 to 95. That is a large bipartisan margin. It is also not law: the bill needs the Senate and then a signature, and a version of it has passed the Senate before — in 2022 — without ever reaching the President’s desk.

Until something changes, federal law sets the schedule: daylight saving time runs from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March to 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. Any state that sits in a single time zone may opt out entirely, which is why Hawaii and most of Arizona do not change their clocks at all.

The week the Atlantic gets shorter

Europe’s rule is different: the last Sunday of October, at the same instant everywhere. Under the EU’s summer-time directive every member state changes at 1 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, and the UK uses the same Sundays. In 2026 that is 25 October — a full week before the United States.

The same thing happens in spring, for twice as long: the US moves its clocks forward on 14 March 2027 and Europe on 28 March, so for two weeks the gap is again an hour shorter.

What that week breaks

Anything scheduled by a person rather than a system. Airline timetables are published in local time and handle the change on their own, so a flight will leave when the ticket says it will. What catches people out is the recurring 9 a.m. call with a London office that suddenly lands at 8 a.m., the hotel check-in time mentally converted from home, the connection someone worked out in their head, and the restaurant booking for the first night in Paris.

If you fly overnight to Europe on the weekend of 24 October, you land in a country that has just changed its clocks while your phone’s home time zone has not. Let the phone set itself from the network, and check any time you converted by hand before you left.

Further east, the change moves the other way

Countries that never change their clocks shift relative to you instead. Nepal stays on UTC+5:45 all year, so Kathmandu is 9 hours 45 minutes ahead of New York now and becomes 10 hours 45 minutes ahead on 1 November — which is why the figure in our jet lag guide changes with the season. The same applies to Japan, India and most of Asia: none of them observe daylight saving time.

When do the clocks go back in 2026?

In the United States, at 2 a.m. on Sunday 1 November 2026. In the UK and the EU, on Sunday 25 October 2026.

Is daylight saving time ending permanently?

Not yet. The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House 308 to 117 on 14 July 2026, but it has not passed the Senate or been signed into law.

Why is the time difference with Europe different for a week?

Because Europe ends summer time on the last Sunday of October and the US on the first Sunday of November. In 2026 that leaves seven days when the gap is an hour shorter.

Sources: Office of the Clerk, US House of Representatives, Roll Call 238 (14 July 2026); 15 U.S.C. § 260a; EU Directive 2000/84/EC on summer-time arrangements. Dates computed from those rules. Status of the bill as of 21 September 2026.

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