Pallone Seeks Robocalls Vote Next Week; Eshoo Mulls Hangup Act Amendment
Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told us he's urging House leaders to allow a floor vote next week on the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375). He received “no commitments yet” consideration will happen. He and others hope to capitalize…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
on momentum for the bill, which Commerce cleared 48-0 Wednesday (see 1907170076). Next week is the last opportunity the chamber will have to advance the measure before the five-week August recess. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., meanwhile, told us she's considering filing an amendment to attach language from her Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls (Hangup) Act (HR-1421) when HR-3375 comes to the floor. HR-1421 and Senate companion S-626 would close a loophole in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act created in the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act OK'ing robocalls to cellphones for collection of debt to the government (see 1902280062). Eshoo originally sought the amendment during the House Communications Subcommittee's June markup of HR-3375 and unsuccessfully negotiated to include it for House Commerce consideration of the bill (see 1907160048). “I think that there are members who don't understand” the Hangup Act's intent, and “it's an important opportunity” to address the TCPA loophole, Eshoo said. “We have good language in place” in the House Commerce-cleared HR-3375 “that everybody's embracing," said House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a Thursday interview. "I always worry that after you've been through the whole process, tacking on an amendment that there were previously problems with” could hurt prospects for easy floor passage. He “would prefer not to go down that route.”