Virginia Foxx: “We are in the height of robocall season, and the American people are beyond fed up. The recent 6-3 ruling by the Supreme…”

“We are in the height of robocall season, and the American people are beyond fed up. The recent 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court that upholds a Federal ban on robocalls warrants a serious conversation that is long overdue. Under the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act, TCPA, prerecorded voice messages and the use of automatic dialing systems were effectively banned. The prevailing argument was that the American people would no longer face intrusive nuisances that we have now come to recognize as robocalls. In retrospect, the TCPA was a novel endeavor, but the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 introduced setbacks that compromised the progress that had been achieved in the fight against robocalls. Debt collectors received a special carve-out that allowed them to place automatic calls to Americans who owed money to the Federal Government. Though the Supreme Court eliminated this carve-out on the basis that it was a violation of the First Amendment, bountiful opportunities to enact meaningful reform remain on the horizon. Unwanted robocalls have become the bane of many, and with phones ringing off the hook in households across the country, Americans are wondering when they will get a reprieve from these nuisances. Imagine you are sitting down for dinner with your family, and within seconds of the meal starting, your phone begins ringing. It is yet another robocall. Now, magnify the scene to households across the country.…”