Congress moving closer to major action to block robocalls

We all know how annoying robocalls can be.

Boston 25 Investigates uncovered one of the worst robocallers in the country, who was permanently banned from robocalling but still running an operation out of Florida. Now, Congress is moving closer to taking major action to block unwanted robocalls.

Sixteen billion unwanted robocalls and counting this year.

That's plenty of reasons for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to finally take notice. Two major bills are now both targeting robocalls.

The bipartisan Traced Act would give cell carriers 18 months to incorporate new technology in their networks that can verify if a call is coming from a real number. It would increase the penalties and robocallers can be fined.

>> MORE: How to turn annoying robocalls into cash

"Right now, these robocallers think they can get away with it and after we pass this bill we are going to have cops on the beat."

Another bill by Congresswoman Jackie Speier goes even further and would require cell phone companies to provide consumers with free robocall blocking technology.

Jack Gillis heads the Consumer Federation of America.

"We want the telephone companies that know best about this technology to provide us with a mechanism to prevent these calls from coming in," he said.

Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told us he asked carriers to add caller ID authentication.

The Traced Act took the major step of passing in committee in the Senate this month and supporters tell us could get a full Senate vote soon. It also has bipartisan support in the House.

>> ROBOCALL REVENGE: Testing the 'robo-killer' app

Cox Media Group