Representative Kristi Noem announced Thursday she is joining a bipartisan effort to combat sex trafficking through a bill prosecuting people who purchase those sexual acts as human traffickers.

It's called the End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013, aiming to eliminate human trafficking rings by targeting criminals who purchase sexual acts and ensuring they are prosecuted as human traffickers.

According to the Department of Justice website, people convicted of human trafficking can face up to 20 years in prison. The End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013 would call for the same punishment for people purchasing sexual acts from human trafficking rings.

The Act also amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to make it clear that both recruiters of underage trafficking victims and the criminals who purchase sexual acts from those victims should be arrested, prosecuted and convicted as sex trafficking offenders.

"As a mother of three children, there's nothing I find more deplorable than those who choose to purchase or provide innocent children for sex," Noem said. "While we are making progress, we must do more. We need to go after both those who traffic victims and those who make the industry profitable and demand sexual services."

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H.R. 2805 also uses existing funds to direct federally funded law enforcement task forces that are part of theInnocence Lost National Initiative to also focus on investigating and prosecuting those who solicit children for sex.

Noem joined Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rick Nolan (D-MN) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced H.R. 2805 at a press conference.