As the clocks ticked forward and Americans lost sleep Sunday morning with Daylight Saving Time, Senator Ed Markey joined Boston Public Radio to talk about his DST legislation, as well as share his thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and climate change policy.
Markey wants to keep daylight saving time all year round
In 2021, Markey introduced a bipartisan bill that would maintain daylight saving time year-round, which would mean more daylight in the afternoons during the dark winter months.
“Spring doesn’t start until it’s daylight after you get home from work, after you get home from school,” Markey said of the current system. “You can’t start Little League until you have daylight saving time, you don’t feel safe walking to the store if you’re female.”
It has long carried the torch to prolong and extend daylight saving time. In the 1980s and again in 2005, Markey passed bills to lengthen it by moving the date.
Its efforts to maintain DST could be a rare bipartisan victory. He says conservative Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has signed on, along with nine other Republicans. Markey would only need 10 Republicans if he could rally all the Democrats to push his legislation through the Senate.
Markey’s motivations also stem from the potential energy saving benefits, in addition to the desire for more daylight.
“People feel better with daylight saving time,” he said.
In terms of energy policy, “I believe we can do it”
The end of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, due to an impasse brought by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, also ended the hard-line climate policy included in the plan. law Project. As Manchin reopens the possibility of a deal, Markey says he is hopeful to push through the energy policy.
“I believe we can do it,” said Markey, whose office is working with Manchin to find a “sweet spot” on climate policy. ” I take it [Manchin] on word, he has said many times that climate is the easiest, energy is the easiest. … Hopefully we can get a lot of the climate provisions that were in the Build Back Better Bill.”
Markey said he particularly hopes to see tax breaks for wind, solar and electric vehicles. “If we got that, it would be historic,” he said. “That’s our hope. I don’t think that will happen in March — when we’re going to focus on nominating Supreme Court nominees — but I do believe that by the end of April we’ll have a shot at finishing a package that has a possibility of include major climate action.
In response to the Russian invasion, “We don’t want to start World War III”
As Russia continues its attack on Ukraine, Markey called for a balance between supporting the Ukrainian military and refugees and preventing nuclear escalation. “Obviously our hearts go out, we can see the pain,” Markey said. “But at the same time, we don’t want to start World War III. We don’t want a US military engagement with the Russians, because that could very quickly escalate into a scenario involving biological and nuclear weapons.
In 2021, Markey introduced legislation with California Representative Ted Lieu that would prevent the United States from deploying nuclear weapons unless first attacked with nuclear weapons. Markey said he would be particularly concerned about the use of nuclear weapons if former President Donald Trump were to be re-elected in 2024.
“There needs to be a formalized process put in place to ensure that no individual in our country has the capability to use nuclear weapons without first, in my view, having to go to Congress,” did he declare.
As gas prices rise in the wake of the Russian invasion, Markey also pointed to this moment as a reason to promote electric vehicles.
“I just think it’s time for us to end America’s funding of Putin’s dirty oil piggy bank, it’s the funding he uses to deploy the tanks, planes and infantry in Ukraine,” he said. “It won’t be, ‘Drill, baby, drill,’ it’s going to be, ‘Plug in, baby, plug in.'”
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