New Bill Blacklists Outsourcing Firms, Mandates Instant Transfer to U.S. Call Agents

The “Keep Call Centers in America Act of 2025” is straightforward: if a company moves customer service jobs out of the U.S., it faces serious consequences, and if you call a company, you have the right to talk to someone based right here. This bill targets the widespread practice of offshoring customer service work by hitting companies where it hurts—their ability to access federal money and contracts—while simultaneously giving consumers new rights in every customer service interaction. It’s a policy designed to make it financially painful to move jobs overseas.

The Federal Funding Blacklist

Title I of the Act creates a public “blacklist” of companies that relocate call center work or contract at least 30% of their call volume outside the United States. If a company makes this list, they are barred from receiving federal grants or guaranteed loans for five years. Think of it as a five-year time-out from Uncle Sam’s wallet. Companies already receiving federal funds when they move operations overseas face even steeper penalties: they must pay a monthly penalty equal to 8.3% of the total amount received, and the grant or loan is canceled entirely after one year on the list (SEC. 101). For a large corporation, this clawback could be massive, making the decision to offshore extremely costly. The only way off the list early is to move the call center operations back to the U.S. and hire at least as many people as the operation that left.

This section also directly impacts federal contracting. Agencies must now give preference to U.S. employers not on the blacklist when awarding civilian or defense contracts. Furthermore, any call center work required under a federal contract must be performed entirely within the United States, including by subcontractors (SEC. 104). This ensures that taxpayer-funded work stays domestic, closing a loophole that allowed federal contractors to outsource support roles.

Your Right to a U.S. Human Agent

Title II is where the bill directly affects consumers during their daily interactions. When you call a business for customer service, the agent must now disclose their physical location at the start of the communication. If that agent is located outside the U.S., the business must immediately inform you that you can request a transfer to a human agent located in the United States (SEC. 201). This provision grants consumers the explicit right to demand U.S.-based support, a significant shift in customer service standards.

This transparency extends to technology, too. If the business uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)—defined broadly as any system that produces recommendations or decisions—to handle your customer service communication, they must announce that fact upfront. Crucially, they must also tell you that you can request an immediate transfer to a human agent located in the U.S. (SEC. 201). This means no more guessing if you’re talking to a bot or if the person helping you is overseas; you’ll know, and you can opt out of both.

The Cost of Compliance and Enforcement

While consumers gain transparency, companies face new compliance hurdles. Annually, businesses must certify to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that they are following these disclosure and transfer rules. Violating these rules is treated as an unfair or deceptive business practice, giving the FTC broad authority to enforce the requirements and impose penalties (SEC. 202). For businesses, particularly those operating globally, implementing the systems needed to track agent location and ensure immediate transfers upon request could involve substantial technical and operational costs.

Ultimately, this bill puts heavy financial pressure on companies to keep jobs domestic while giving the average person more control over their customer service experience. The trade-off is clear: better consumer transparency and job retention, but at the cost of significantly increased regulatory risk and compliance complexity for businesses that rely on global operations.