[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 130 (Wednesday, July 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. 
        Blumenthal):
  S. 2349. A bill to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to 
eliminate the common carrier exemption for telecommunications 
companies; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
introduction of the Protection from Robocalling Act of 2019. This bill 
would address the problem of illegal robocalls and spam calls. I thank 
Senators Klobuchar and Blumenthal for cosponsoring this legislation.
  Last year, I introduced this legislation to address the nuisance of 
illegal robocalling.
  Since then, these calls have become even more prevalent. For example, 
last month alone, an estimated 4.7 billion robocalls were placed in the 
United States--nearly one billion more than the year prior. That 
amounts to 153 million calls per day, or nearly 2,000 robocalls placed 
each second. Some of these calls are organized scams.
  In one case, one robocall company called people offering to help 
lower their credit card interest rates. Instead, it tricked them into 
giving up sensitive personal information, including their Social 
Security numbers.
  Another company dialed millions of phone numbers on the Do Not Call 
registry trying to find new customers for a third-party service, 
contacting a single number more than 1,000 times in the same year. 
Robocall companies are also engaged in credit card and loan scams.
  What's worse, robocalling is now endangering the health and safety of 
Americans by tying up emergency service lines. Tufts Medical Center in 
Boston received more than 4,500 illegal robocalls in the span of two 
hours last April. Each time the medical staff had to answer one of 
those robocalls could have been an instance when someone who needed 
life-saving help was unable to get through to a medical professional.
  One reason the problem is increasing is because the cost of making 
and deploying these calls is decreasing. Advances in software make it 
possible for one person to send out thousands of identical prerecorded 
messages every second, more quickly and more cheaply than employing 
scores of human telemarketing agents.
  In addition, technology is making it even easier for illegal 
robocallers to hide their true identity and location. Voice over 
Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology enables robocallers to launch their 
call campaigns from anywhere in the world. And new technology allows 
illegal robocallers to disguise where they are actually calling from. 
This technique, known as ``spoofing,'' tricks consumers into thinking 
they are receiving a local call.
  The Federal Trade Commission now receives nearly 10,000 robocall 
complaints every day. With its broad consumer protection authority, the 
Commission plays a critical role in stopping illegal robocalling. But 
due to an historic exemption, the Commission has no enforcement 
authority over telecoms.
  When the FTC Act was enacted in 1914, this exemption was put in place 
because telecoms were monopolies and subject to heavy regulation so FTC 
enforcement was not needed. In the decades that followed, that 
regulatory oversight was rolled back, while the exemption remained in 
place. This created an uneven playing field. A set of federal rules and 
regulations protecting consumers applied to most industries, but not 
all.
  We must give the Commission the authority they need to pursue 
complete relief for American consumers. The Protection from Robocalling 
Act of 2019 removes telecoms from the common carrier exemption in the 
law. By eliminating this special exemption, telecoms will now have to 
abide by the same consumer protection standards in areas such as 
privacy and advertising that apply to other sectors already subject to 
the FTC's jurisdiction.
  It's a matter of fairness, as well as common sense. There's no reason 
that consumer data held by a broadband service should have more 
protection under the law than the same data held by their wireless 
service.
  Robocalls are a problem for everyone with a cell phone. It is a 
problem that is only going to get worse. And we can't expect our law 
enforcement agencies to keep up with today's technologies if their 
hands are tied.
  We need to be smarter about how we approach this problem. Going after 
the robocallers and installing call blocking technology on phones is 
fine; but we need to strike at the systems that they use to perpetrate 
their scams if we want to see a real difference.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this legislation that 
will help consumers fight back against illegal robocalling.
  I yield the floor.
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