Skip to main content

Pallone and E&C Democrats Unveil Proposals to Combat Robocalls

April 27, 2018

Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Democrats released a series of legislative proposals to address abusive robocall practices today. The Democrats announced one bill and two discussion drafts during a Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection hearing this morning on Combatting Robocalls and Caller ID Spoofing.

Last year, an estimated 18 billion unwanted calls were placed in the U.S., which represents a 76 percent increase in unwanted calls over the previous year. The staggering number of unwanted calls are returning huge profit margins for robocallers with every dollar spent by robocallers returning as much as $20 profit—a 2,000 percent profit margin. Robocalls are also often used to steal from consumers with more than 22 million Americans losing a total of $9.5 billion in robocall scams in 2016 alone.

The Democrats' proposals would empower consumer protection agencies to better restrict robocalls, guarantee new consumer rights and protections, and eliminate barriers to bringing enforcement actions against illegal robocallers.

Stopping Bad Robocall Act

The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act discussion draft, sponsored by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) would put the teeth back into the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, enact strong consumer protections for allowed calls, give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tough enforcement tools to use against robocallers, and require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and FCC to work together to reduce unwanted calls by 50 percent annually year over year.

"The Stopping Bad Robocall Act would empower the FCC and the FTC to put an end to the annoying robocalls consumers face day in and day out," Ranking Member Pallone said. "Unfortunately, robocalls are proliferating and our agencies need new tools and authorities for the 21st Century to better protect consumers from the abusive practices robocallers are employing."

The HANGUP Act

The HANGUP Act (H.R. 5633), introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), would require federal debt collectors to get consumers' permission before robocalling or autodialing them to collect on a debt.

"No one should be subjected to harassing or unwanted robocalls, whether they come from a government contractor or anywhere else," Congresswoman Eshoo said. "Congress took action to crack down on these unwanted calls through the 1991 TCPA, but the provision in the Budget Act of 2015 rolled back important consumer protections in the 27 year old law. The HANGUP Act restores these critical protections for consumers by establishing a statutory roadblock to unwanted robocalls and texts from government contractors."

CEASE Robocalls Act

The CEASE Robocalls Act, a discussion draft proposed by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), would lift the communications common carrier exemption in the FTC Act to permit the FTC to bring enforcement actions against telecommunications carriers and VoIP providers when they engage in unfair and deceptive practices with respect to illegal robocalls.

"Robocalls are a great annoyance for American families, particularly our seniors," Congresswoman Dingell said. "In March alone, a record three billion robocalls were placed to American consumers, and we have heard from people across this country that they want these calls stopped. My discussion draft, the CEASE Robocalls Act, would allow the FTC to take action against smaller Voice over Internet Protocol services that are a huge player and heavily involved in illegal robocalls. These ideas represent commonsense steps to stop Americans from being harassed by unwanted calls."