The Club for Growth has asked the Federal Communications Commission to let political callers place artificial or prerecorded voice calls, including calls using AI-generated voices, to wireless numbers without prior express consent, according to a petition for expedited waiver filed earlier this week.
The petition seeks a limited waiver of Section 64.1200(a)(1)(iii) of the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules and an exemption from Section 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) of the Communications Act for noncommercial political calls. The group, a 501(c)(4) membership organization, said it and its affiliated political committees want to use AI-powered calling tools to survey and inform potential voters ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections and requested expedited action.
Under the proposal, calls to cell phones would be subject to the same conditions the FCC already applies to noncommercial artificial or prerecorded voice calls made to residential landlines without consent. Those conditions include a limit of three calls to the same number in any 30-day period, an automated opt-out mechanism presented within two seconds of the caller identifying itself, and company-specific do-not-call procedures, including written policies, personnel training, recording of requests within 10 business days, and five-year retention of those requests. The petition also accepts the statutory condition that exempted calls to wireless numbers not be charged to the called party.
The filing said current rules chill political speech and expose good-faith callers to private litigation carrying statutory penalties of $500 to $1,500 per call. It cited the FCC’s 2024 declaratory ruling that the TCPA’s restrictions on artificial or prerecorded voices encompass current AI technologies that generate human voices.
The petition argued the request mirrors the FCC’s 1992 exemption for noncommercial calls to residential lines, which the commission reaffirmed in its 2020 TRACED Act order, and builds on existing wireless exemptions for package delivery notifications and certain calls from financial institutions, inmate phone service providers and healthcare callers.
Club for Growth also pointed to the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” deregulatory proceeding, Executive Orders 14192 and 14219, and the July 2025 White House AI Action Plan as policy support. The filing said the Supreme Court’s decisions in Loper Bright and McLaughlin Chiropractic do not affect the commission’s express exemption authority under Section 227(b)(2)(C).
