Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the TRACED Act.

This is a long-overdue effort by Congress to crack down on out-of- control abuse of robocall marketers. These are annoying and inconvenient calls, but they also have real-life impacts.

Kathryn Ottinger is an 84-year-old Vermonter from Shelburne. She and her husband receive at least three or four robocalls a day, at all hours of the day. Kathryn's husband is hard of hearing, so he doesn't hear the phone ring, which requires her to race to answer the calls constantly, even though it is really difficult for her to get up. She always answers the calls because they could be important. It might be a son or a daughter.

Unfortunately, it is usually a marketer or a scam call. Kathryn sums it up perfectly when she says: ``I am very upset about these calls. I want the calls to stop.''

She speaks for all of our constituents. She is not alone.

In 2018, there were 47 billion robocalls made in the United States. Vermonters receive nearly 4 million robocalls a month. In 2016, scams involving robocalls cost 22 million Americans a total of $9.5 billion.

I am hopeful this bill today will stop these harassing phone calls. The bill will give the FCC the authority and tools it needs. It will allow consumers to revoke consent they had previously given. It will require calls to have verified caller ID information associated with the call before the call can be put through.

These are important steps that will reduce and, hopefully, stop these robocallers, and I urge passage of this bill.

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