FCC robocall enforcement does little to stop illegal calls, Senate hears

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The Federal Communications Commission's attempts to stop robocalls have failed to make a big dent in the problem, according to testimony at a Senate subcommittee hearing today.

The FCC "has been trying to address the problems, but, to date, its methods have not succeeded in achieving a meaningful reduction in these unwanted and illegal calls. Either the FCC does not have sufficient legal tools to stop these unwanted and illegal calls, or it has not yet determined how to deploy those tools effectively," said Margot Freeman Saunders, senior counsel for the National Consumer Law Center.

The hearing on robocalls was held by the Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the subcommittee chair, said that FCC enforcement is ineffective and that Congress should give the agency more power. He mentioned the long-standing problem that the FCC is unable to collect on most of the robocall fines it issues.