House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill

Key lawmakers in the House and Senate on Friday announced they have drawn up a bill to stave off the scourge of robocalls in the U.S., expressing optimism that the negotiated legislation “can be signed into law by the President.” 

The long-awaited anti-robocall bill, which has not been made public in its final form yet, would allow telephone carriers to block robocalls — spam calls often aimed at stealing personal information from vulnerable populations — in a “consistent and transparent” way without charging consumers any extra money, according to Friday statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr.Frank Joseph PalloneHouse, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill Overnight Health Care: Trump officials making changes to drug pricing proposal | House panel advances flavored e-cig ban | Senators press FDA tobacco chief on vaping ban House panel advances flavored e-cigarette ban MORE (D-N.J.) and Sen. John ThuneJohn Randolph ThuneHillicon Valley: Twitter shares more details on political ad rules | Supreme Court takes up Google-Oracle fight | Pentagon chief defends Microsoft cloud contract House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill Senate GOP waves Trump off early motion to dismiss impeachment charges MORE (R-S.D.), a top member of the Senate Commerce Committee, among others.

ADVERTISEMENT

The House and Senate have been working for months on similar legislation to address robocalls, which have been increasing in volume and aggravating millions of Americans for years. The statement on Friday signals they have negotiated agreements over several of the points of disagreement between the bills. 

“Today, we are proud to announce that we have come to an agreement in principle on legislation, the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act, to combat the robocall epidemic that we believe can be signed into law by the President,” the House and Senate lawmakers said in the statement. “It’s time to put Americans back in charge of their phones.”

The anti-robocall bill will require telephone carriers to verify calls and offer tools for their customers to block spammy calls. It will also give the Federal Communications Commission more time to investigate and punish illegal robocallers. 

The statement is also signed by the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Greg WaldenGregory (Greg) Paul WaldenHillicon Valley: Twitter shares more details on political ad rules | Supreme Court takes up Google-Oracle fight | Pentagon chief defends Microsoft cloud contract House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill House panel advances flavored e-cigarette ban MORE (R-Ore). and Sen. Ed MarkeyEdward (Ed) John MarkeyHillicon Valley: Twitter shares more details on political ad rules | Supreme Court takes up Google-Oracle fight | Pentagon chief defends Microsoft cloud contract House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill Democratic senators introduce bill to block funding for border wall live stream MORE (D-Mass.). 

“Our agreement will require telephone carriers to verify calls and allow robocalls to be blocked in a consistent and transparent way, all at no extra charge to consumers,” they said. “The agreement also gives the FCC and law enforcement the ability to quickly go after scammers.” 

The lawmakers are working to finalize the bill text “in the coming days,” they said. 

The final bill will likely allow for tougher penalties against the scammers who generate billions of unwanted calls each year. The number of robocallers dialing up U.S. consumers is on the rise. Some estimates say there were more than 48 billion robocalls in 2018, up almost 50 percent from the previous year.

Efforts to pass anti-robocall legislation have stalled for years, but the agreement announced Friday increases the odds that Congress will send the White House a bill before 2020.