Do Not Call: Congress Speed Dials

The House approved legislation Thursday aimed at ensuring the national "do-not-call" list goes into effect as scheduled next week so consumers can block many unwanted telemarketing sales pitches.

The House voted 412-8 after less than hour of debate. Lawmakers from both parties uniformly blasted a decision by U.S. District Judge Lee R. West, who ruled Tuesday that the Federal Trade Commission lacked authority to create and operate the registry.

"The judge in this case is dead wrong and I'm sure his decision will in turn be overturned," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "We should probably call the bill 'This Time We Really Mean It Act' to cure any myopia in the judicial branch. The bill leaves no doubt as to the intent of Congress."

The Senate was to vote later in the day, reports CBS News Correspondent Howard Arenstein.

The White House encouraged the congressional efforts to pass legislation to make sure the Do Not Call list takes effect next week as scheduled. A spokesman says the White House "obviously disagrees" with the federal judge who ruled the FTC overstepped its bounds, CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer reports.

"These are telemarketing calls that are intrusive, annoying and all too common," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. McClellan would not firmly commit President Bush to signing legislation on the registry.

A flood of congressional proposals defending the list came only hours after the ruling. Telemarketers who sued to block the list stopped short of declaring victory because there was uncertainty about how the ruling would affect the FTC's plans.

Consumers may continue signing up for the list despite the ruling, FTC spokeswoman Cathy MacFarlane said.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced bills late Wednesday to give the FTC explicit authority to create and operate the list.

In his ruling Tuesday, West said the Federal Communications Commission, not the FTC, has the authority to oversee a national do-not-call registry.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said that despite the ruling, "we will work closely with the FTC and Congress to ensure that the do-not-call registry becomes a reality."

West said recently adopted rules that allowed the FTC to create such a list were invalid. But he did not issue an order directing the FTC to stop the list.

"This is the goofiest decision that I've seen in a long time," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "There is no question that Congress intended for the FTC to have this authority and will quickly make any correction that the court, in its arcane logic, deems necessary."

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., added, "If this decision is not reversed quickly, I suspect the courthouse in Oklahoma would want to add itself to the do-not-call database in order to protect itself from the millions of consumers who feel deeply about the right to be left alone."

After the ruling, angry consumers posted the judge's office and home telephone numbers on Web sites and encouraged people to call and complain. Calls to the West home seeking comment were blocked by busy signals.

The Direct Marketing Association, one of the groups that challenged the registry, said it hadn't decided whether its members would stop calling people on the list starting next Wednesday.

Since the FTC opened the do-not-call list for registration in June, people have submitted 31.1 million phone numbers at the Web site www.donotcall.gov and 10.9 million by calling toll-free at 1-888-382-1222. An additional 8.6 million numbers were transferred from existing state lists.

There are about 166 million residential phone numbers in the United States and an additional 150 million cell phone numbers.

The FTC's rules require telemarketers to check the list every three months to see who doesn't want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation. Consumers would file complaints to an automated phone or online system.

The FTC expects the list to block 80 percent of telemarketing calls. Exemptions include calls from charities, pollsters and on behalf of politicians.