Pallone Blasts Ongoing Pervasiveness of Robocalls & Announces Plan to Introduce New Legislation

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) issued the following statement today denouncing the ongoing epidemic of abusive robocalls practices exacerbated by the Supreme Court's ruling in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, which interpreted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's definition of "autodialer" so narrowly that it applies to very few autodialers in use today, resulting in Americans continuing to be bombarded with unwanted calls and texts:

"Robocalls are intrusive, unsolicited, and Americans deserve to live free of this daily harassment. When the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act was signed into law, I was proud of the commonsense restrictions we imposed on annoying robocalls and looked forward to it dramatically reducing them.

"Shortly afterward, the Supreme Court undermined the very foundation of existing anti-robocalls protections, and the unwanted calls almost immediately picked back up. Since then, it has been disturbing to see the volume of robocalls and texts remain high. Americans are tired of them.

"I am determined to continue working to put an end to this problem once and for all. In the coming months, I'll be introducing legislation to fix loopholes that allow these calls to continue, update the authorities of our expert agencies, and empower consumers."

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