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Today, the U.S. House passed the widely-bipartisan bill Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler helped lead, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, to control the onslaught of unwanted robocalls.

“After hearing countless complaints from Southwest Washington residents who are being inundated by unlawful robocalls, I’m pleased Congress is advancing this bipartisan bill to stop scam calls. They’re more than just a nuisance – these calls frequently try to scam health care consumers, seniors and others. From fraudulent Social Security threats, ‘free’ cruise gimmicks, and other scam calls – it’s time we put a stop to these illegal robocalls, placed consumers back in charge – and punished the fraudsters,” Herrera Beutler said.

Problem and solution:

The scourge of unlawful robocalls threatens the way consumers view and use their telephones. Last year, an estimated 47.8 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, an increase of 17 billion calls over the previous year. Illegal robocalls affect American life in increasingly harmful ways, from scams to defraud consumers to disrupting our health care system. 

The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act is a common-sense solution to put consumers back in charge of their phones. This bill will implement a free, nationwide caller authentication system so consumers can trust the number they see on their caller ID is actually the person calling them.

H.R. 3375 also gives law enforcement and the Federal Communications Commission critical tools, information, and incentives to go after robocallers that break the law.