A new bipartisan, bicameral bill seeks to respond to criminal activity in the United States organized by the Iranian regime by increasing the criminal penalties for those who commit or attempt certain crimes on behalf of foreign adversaries.

The DETERRENCE Act, led by Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) in the Senate and Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in the House, comes after years of Iranian regime efforts, employing U.S.-based criminals, to assassinate former President Donald Trump, members of his administration and Iranian-American dissidents.

The bill increases criminal penalties for criminals knowingly engaging in a murder-for-hire scheme, murdering or attempting to murder current and formal federal officials and their families, assaulting federal officials and their families, kidnapping or attempted kidnapping, threats with a dangerous weapon and stalking in the U.S. on behalf of a foreign adversary.

“Foreign adversaries like Iran are working with criminal organizations in the United States to kill people on American soil,” Hassan said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation will take the existing criminal penalties on gangs and criminals who engage in violent behavior and make them even stronger for when they act on behalf of a foreign government. I will work with my colleagues to pass this legislation as quickly as possible to send a clear message that the United States will not tolerate this outrageous behavior.”

Ernst said that the legislation is necessary to counter “years of appeasement” that have left Iran feeling free to act against Americans inside the U.S.

“Now that the regime has become so emboldened that it even attempted to assassinate President Trump, Senator Hassan and I are taking action to ensure any bad actor thinks twice before working with our adversaries or messing with any of our citizens,” Ernst said in a statement. “The bipartisan DETERRENCE Act will create severe consequences for anyone helping carry out Iran’s malign mission of ‘death to America’ and make any criminal organization think twice before targeting Americans on our own soil.”

Wagner described the legislation as a response to the Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.

“We are the most powerful nation in the world and it’s time we acted like it. Americans must be protected from the increasingly brazen and destabilizing attacks by foreign nations, and we will not stop until they are brought to justice,” Wagner said in a statement.

Schneider said that Iran’s plotting against Americans has been “deeply alarming” and requires “decisive action” from lawmakers to “[send] a clear message to Iran and any nation or individual conspiring against Americans.”

Moran said that the attempts against Trump and other citizens “underscore the urgent need for strong and practical deterrence against all foreign regimes who seek to harm Americans on our soil.”

Moskowitz, who sits on the bipartisan House task force investigating assassination attempts against Trump, said, “We need to send a message that any person who works with a foreign government, especially a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran, will face severe consequences for harming Americans.”