(Washington, DC) – Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) joined her colleagues in supporting the passage of S. 151, the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act. This bill is a combination of the House passed H.R. 3375, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act and the Senate passed S. 151, the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act. Both bills passed their chambers of Congress with bipartisan support and the combination bill passed the House with bipartisan support, 417 to 3. The combination bill will now be voted on in the Senate.

“I am happy to see both parties and both chambers come together to solve a problem that has proved to be a nuisance and danger for American families. This bill gives telephone carriers the power to block calls and law enforcement the ability to go after robocall scammers,” said Congresswoman Fletcher. “I look forward to seeing this legislation signed by the President, protecting consumers in Texas and across the country.”

This bill will cut back on unlawful robocalls made to landlines and cellphones by requiring that carriers offer call-authentication technology to consumers and small businesses—in rural and urban America—at no additional line-item charge, so Americans can again trust that the number on their caller-ID is correct. The bill also requires that opt-in or opt-out robocall blocking be offered at no additional charge to consumers. The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act would further (1) help the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) step up enforcement actions against unlawful robocalls, (2) help push the Department of Justice (DOJ) to bring more criminal prosecutions against criminal robocallers, (3) require the FCC to work to stop one-ring scams, (4) help the FCC and responsible carriers traceback and cutoff the dodgy phone companies responsible for sending vast numbers of unlawful robocalls, and (5) protect patients and doctors from unlawful robocalls.

Last year, an estimated 47.8 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, an increase of 17 billion calls over the previous year, which represent a rising risk to the American people as robocallers intensify their scams to defraud consumers, disrupt our health care system, and more. In Houston alone, an estimated 153 million robocalls were made in November.