WASHINGTON — A bill to fight robocalls has officially passed Congress and is headed to President Trump for his signature.

• TRACED Act would require phone companies to verify phone numbers
• Bipartisan group of lawmakers worked on the issues
• PREVIOUS STORIES: 
  • House Passes Bipartisan Robocall Bill 
  • Congress Working on Legislation to Combat Robocalls
  • The Reason You Get So Man Robocalls, Even With a "Do Not Call" Registry
  • An End to Spam Calls? Bipartisan Group Wants to See it Happen

The bipartisan TRACED Act passed in the Senate Thursday, a formality after a slight change was made to the bill in the House and passed overwhelmingly earlier this month.

The bill requires phone companies to develop tools to verify that phone numbers are real. It also directs government agencies to look into ways to go after scammers and better enforce against robocalls. 

Phone companies also supposed to offer robocall blocking services without charging a fee.

Violators of the act would be fined $10,000 per call. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been working on the robocall issue for the better part of a year. Florida Rep. Charlie Crist was the sponsor of the House version bill, which he said Wednesday was included in the TRACED Act.