President Donald Trump shared what he said was the personal cell phone number of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Truth Social this week, escalating a dispute over stalled legislation to end the twice-yearly clock change.
Trump, who has pushed for passage of the “Sunshine Protection Act,” accused Cotton of single-handedly blocking the bill from a Senate vote last October. “For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it’s very easy to do, it only takes one! It should pass overwhelmingly, in a Bipartisan fashion,” Trump wrote, calling Cotton “a friend.”
Trump went on to urge Arkansas voters to contact the senator directly. “So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE!” he posted, including the phone number at the end of the message.
Fox News Digital reported dialing the number, which carries a Dardanelle, Arkansas, area code, but did not reach Cotton.
Bill Stuck Until After Midterms
The Senate is currently out of session until Nov. 3 and cannot act on the measure until after the midterm elections. The House passed its own version of the legislation in July by a bipartisan vote of 308–117. That bill was referred to a Senate committee, where it has remained untouched.
Trump has been among the most vocal supporters of scrapping the clock change permanently, arguing it would help “decrease Robbery and Murder Rates, Reduce Car Accidents (especially those involving Pedestrians!), Lower Risk for Cardiac Issues, Stroke, and Seasonal Depression.”
The bill’s continued failure to advance, despite bipartisan backing, represents another setback for Trump, who has made the SAVE America Act a priority but has not been able to get it enacted.
Cotton Pushes Back
Hours after Trump’s post, Cotton defended his position on X, pointing to the practical effects of permanent daylight saving time on schoolchildren.
“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton wrote. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”
Trump’s post referenced a bipartisan unanimous consent request made last fall by Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to move the bill forward in the Senate — a request Cotton rejected.
Not the First Time
This is not the first instance of Trump publicly releasing a lawmaker’s phone number. In 2015, while campaigning for president, Trump read out the cell number of then-Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at a rally in South Carolina, after Graham had called him a “jackass” on CBS earlier that day.
Fox News Digital reported reaching out to the White House for comment.
