Bill fights foreign robocalls and shields tracing group from lawsuits.

What it does

The bill creates a federal task force led by the FCC. The task force will study robocalls from other countries. It protects a private group that traces robocalls from lawsuits. The FCC can publish lists of phone companies that do not fight robocalls. The FCC can make rules letting phone companies pay bonds. Bonds can be up to one hundred thousand dollars. Big, regulated companies do not have to pay bonds.

Who it affects

People who get robocalls benefit from federal efforts to stop them. Phone companies, especially smaller ones, may face new costs. The private group that traces robocalls gets legal protection.

One thing to notice

The private group cannot be sued for sharing robocall information. The bond rule is optional but may cost smaller companies more.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• Aug 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Aug 1, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
• Oct 21, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
• Aug 3, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S4412-4414; text: CR S4412-4414)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 6 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $24,780,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 28 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.

Ted Budd, who sponsored the bill, received $294,750 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 in 1 report
• AARP — $5,300,000 in 1 report
• United States Telecom Assn — $1,340,000 in 2 reports
• Early Warning Services, LLC — $90,000 in 1 report
• National Telecommunications Cooperative Association — $90,000 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• robocalls — Automated phone calls made to many people at once, often illegal.
• task force — A group formed to work on one specific problem.
• bonds — Money a company pays to prove it will follow rules.
• phone companies — Businesses that provide phone service to people and other businesses.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.