A provision stuck in the recently approved spending bill last week exempts the U.S. Department of Education from a 1991 law that prevents harassing, automated phone calls, the Enid (Okla.) News & Eagle reported yesterday. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act barred pre-recorded messages or auto-dialing, known as “robocalls,” made to cellphones without the consent of the person called. The budget grants an exemption to government debt-collectors, allowing them to auto-dial and make twice as many calls as they can by hand. In a letter sent Monday, four senators urged Education Secretary Arne Duncan not to allow robocalls until the Federal Communications Commission creates rules for the exemption. Congress gave the FCC nine months to act.
