This afternoon, by a vote of 429-3, the House of Representatives overwhelming approved the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, H.R. 3375, as reported by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The House acted by voting on a motion to suspend the House rules and pass the bill. Prior to the vote, Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and various other Members supporting the bill participated in a 40-minute session filling the record with the reasons why the Members of the House should vote in favor of the bill.

Next step is a conference with the US Senate, which earlier this year passed the narrower-in-scope TRACED Act, S. 151. Senator John Thune (R-SD), lead sponsor of that effort, reportedly indicated today he sees “a path forward for a ‘fairly straightforward conference’ now that the ‘bills are starting to get closer.’”