EL PASO, Texas -- You pick up the phone, and on the other end someone wants to sell you something. It is an all-too-common scenario.

"When I see a number I don't know on my caller I.D., I just don't answer my phone," said Josh Herrera who is not registered on the Do Not Call List.

"Sometimes you answer, thinking it's something important, or it's something that does concern you," said Edna Rodriguez, who registered her cell phone two years ago.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates 146 million Americans have signed up for the Do Not Call Registry since its launch on October 2003.

The way the program was initially set up, consumers had to re-register phone numbers every five years to help keep the registry as accurate as possible and purge disconnected and re-assigned numbers.

"I registered for the Do Not Call List two years ago, when I began my cell phone contract, and I began getting calls again two weeks ago," said Rodriguez.

Tuesday the House passed a bill (H.R. 3541) that would extend the Do Not Call Program permanently. Consumers would only have to register once. The system would automatically purge disconnected and re-assigned numbers.

Now it is up to the Senate to pass the companion bill S. 2096.

"I think it's great. I don't like getting unnecessary phone calls on my cell phone," said Nydia Lujan, who also registered her phone a few years ago.

Another bill waiting for the Senate vote would make permanent a funding a funding system under which the Federal Trade Commission collects fees from telemarketers to operate the registry. Consumers would still be able to register free of charge.

www.donotcall.gov