By Scott Nicholson
Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC-5) wants to press the “mute” button on unwanted political calls.
She has reintroduced a bill to stop the automated campaign calls, called “robo-calls,” to people who don’t want to receive them. Foxx testified before the Committee on House Administration on Dec. 6, telling members of Congress about legislation she introduced called Robo Calls Off Phones (Robo COP) Act.
The bill would prohibit pre-recorded or robotic political calls to the phones of people who signed up for the federal “Do Not Call” registry. The bill is similar to one Foxx introduced in the 109th Congress, fulfilling one of her early campaign pledges to voters. She said the bill didn’t pass at that time because politicians wanted to be able to continue the practice.
“It is a travesty that people can sign up for the Do Not Call registry for everything but political calls,” Foxx said in her committee testimony, adding that the public was upset when Congress made special rules for itself.
During the campaign season, voters are often targeted with robotic political calls that advertise, campaign, and solicit donations for or against political candidates or issues, she said. These “robo-calls” typically come in the evening and interrupt family time or even sleeping hours.
In a video posted online at YouTube, Foxx spoke of her campaign experiences dating back to a 1974 run for the Watauga County Board of Education when she began making personal telephone calls to voters. She said she’d made thousands of calls during her political career and said those she called welcomed the opportunity to talk personally with their representative.
“I think that we must not set the Congress and other elected officials apart from the way we treat business and industry,” Foxx said.
She shared her experiences with her first congressional campaign in 2004 when many candidates were resorting to “robo-calls” and bombarding people with unwanted messages, sometimes confusing voters about who made the calls and said, “Instead of people being encouraged to get out and vote and engaging with candidates, they’re being turned off. That’s the last thing I want to happen in this country.”
Foxx’s bill would allow anyone who does not wish to receive such calls to opt out by registering not to receive them, just as they can for telemarketing calls.
The legislation applies to unsolicited politically oriented recorded calls where a live person is not available to speak with the individual answering the phone. Foxx said she wasn’t trying to ban automatic calls or even political calls, but instead wanted to give people the choice.
She said the calls had “had a negative impact on the democratic process by leaving a bad taste” and that it was a travesty that Congress made different rules for itself. She said people should have a choice about whether they receive automatic calls. She also said her recent “teletown hall” relied on people calling in to ask questions rather than sending out messages. Foxx’s submitted bill is similar to another, later submitted bill and she said she would be willing to have the bills tweaked to accomplish their similar missions.
Foxx spoke with the committee chair after the meeting and believes the bill has a good chance of passing, particularly since it has bipartisan interest. Some opponents have felt there are First Amendment concerns because political speech is given special protection in the Constitution. However, Foxx believes there are no free-speech infringements in the bill because the speech is still allowable.
“People don’t have a right to put messages in our homes that we don’t want to hear,” she said.
She also said the messages can be misleading and that political campaigns can structure the message in ways that may harm other candidates. Even though she acknowledged it could be a cost-effective way for candidates to get a message out, political calls should not be treated differently from telemarketing calls. “To me, it’s a simple matter of fairness,” she said.
The bill is crafted so that the political-call restriction would be added to the existing registry but Foxx said she was open to creating a second registry strictly for political calls.
The national Do Not Call registry law currently exempts political solicitations, most charitable solicitations, and telephone surveys.
Political solicitations are not covered by the legislation, since they are not included in its definition of “telemarketing.” Charities are generally not covered by the requirements of the national registry. However, if a third-party telemarketer is calling on behalf of a charity, a consumer may ask not to receive any more calls from, or on behalf of, that specific charity.
There are also exemptions for bill collectors and businesses that already have an existing relationship with the person. The registry took effect June 27, 2003.
