The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 that has now been signed into law took a swipe at our rights not to receive robocalls and texts to our cell phones without our explicit consent. Section 301 exempts callers who are trying to collect debts that are owed to or guaranteed by the federal government. This giant step backwards will expose millions of people who have student loans, government-backed mortgages, veterans, farmers, taxpayers and others to intrusive and harassing debt collection tactics.

There are good reasons why there are special protections for calls and texts to cell phones. For people who have prepaid or limited calling plans, robocalls eat up their minutes, and if free texts are not included in their plans, the cost of getting unwanted messages can really add up. Furthermore, because we tend to have our mobile phones with us and keep them on all the time, receiving these calls and texts as we drive, at work, and as we go about our daily lives will be distracting. There is also the problem of wrong number calls when old numbers that people are no longer using get reassigned to someone else. What do you do if the robot keeps calling you and it’s not your debt?

And why allow the debt collection industry, which is already the source of so many consumer complaints about abusive practices, to make calls that will cause more expense and stress for people who are already struggling to deal with difficult financial situations?

We don’t think this is fair and we doubt that it will be an effective way to collect on these debts. That’s why CFA and other consumer groups support the HANGUP (Help American Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls) Act. The bill, which has just been introduced by Senators Markey, Wyden, Blumenthal, McCaskill, Menendez, Leahy, Warren, Sanders, Franken, Klobuchar and Baldwin, would strike this ill-conceived section from the new law.