Congress agrees to putting an end to robocalls

It is good that when we seem to be more politically polarized than ever, there are still some things the politicians can agree on. In Washington D.C., Congress is working to crack down on illegal robocalls. You know, the one you have to get up from dinner to answer only to hear a robotic voice on the other end trying to sell you something, or even scam you. The legislation toughens penalties against illegal robocalling operations, and requires carriers to adopt technology to make sure calls are authentic. Penalties for illegal robocalls would increase from the current $1500 per violation to $10,000. The vote passed by a margin of 429-3. Which means there are 3 members of Congress who don’t think we should ban these robocalls. Maybe we should call them at 3am and tell them what we think of that. The number of robocalls in the U.S. is on the rise. Some 48 billion robocalls were made in 2018, nearly double from the year before. This isn’t the first effort to prevent unwanted calls. Remember the no-call list we were asked to sign up for each year? After a record number of people signed up, those bothering us simply started calling our cell phones instead. It can be difficult for our laws to keep up with technology, but lets hope this legislation finally puts an end to all those unwanted calls. That should be something we can all agree on.