House Passes Underwood-Backed Legislation to Combat Robocalls

WASHINGTON— Today, the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan TRACED Act supported by Representative Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Frank Pallone (NJ-06), and Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee John Thune (R-SD). The TRACED Act is the result of several months of bipartisan negotiations between the House and Senate to help combat the robocall epidemic. The legislation builds upon the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (H.R. 3375), which passed with overwhelming support in the House of Representatives in July. The TRACED Act would require telephone carriers to verify calls and allow consumers to block robocalls in a consistent and transparent way, at no extra charge. Additionally, the agreement enables the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and law enforcement to quickly go after scammers.

"Robocalls aren't just annoying – they can be dangerous. They're used by fraudsters and unscrupulous debt collectors to scare hardworking Americans into falling for their scams," said Underwood. "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to take immediate action on this bill and for the President to sign this legislation so we can help protect Americans from abusive robocall practices and strengthen enforcement against scammers."

The TRACED Act:

• Requires carriers to offer call-authentication technology to consumers and small businesses—in rural and urban America—at no additional charge;
• Requires opt-in or opt-out robocall blocking be offered at no additional charge;
• Gives the FCC the ability to step up enforcement actions against unlawful robocalls;
• Pushes the Department of Justice to bring more criminal prosecutions against robocallers;
• Requires the FCC to work to stop one-ring scams;
• Helps the FCC and responsible carriers trace back and cut off suspected companies that send vast numbers of unlawful robocalls; and
• Protects patients, doctors, and hospitals from unlawful robocalls.

Last year, an estimated 47.8 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, an increase of 17 billion calls over previous years. Illinois remains one of the top ten states impacted by robocalls, receiving an average of 116 robocalls per person totaling over 1.9 billion robocalls so far in 2019. Illegal robocalls affect American life in increasingly harmful ways, from scams to defraud consumers, to disruptions to our health care system, and much more.

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