WASHINGTON — Two Florida lawmakers, a Republican and a Democrat, have joined forces in an effort to get tough on animal cruelty.

Reps. Vern Buchanan and Ted Deutch have introduced the "Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act" to ban and make it easier to prosecute those involved in animal killings and torture.

The bipartisan legislation aims to close a loophole in a previous law passed in 2010 that made it illegal to record and distribute videos of animal torture. It was introduced last week and is backed by 154 other members of Congress.

The new House bill would ban the abuse altogether. Specifically, H.R. 724 will amend the federal criminal code to prohibit the intentional acts of crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling or otherwise subjecting animals to serious bodily harm.

"The torture of innocent animals is abhorrent and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law," Buchanan, a Republican, said in a statement.

"We’ve acted in the past to stop the horrific trend of animal abuse videos; now it’s time to make the underlying acts of cruelty a crime as well," Democrat Deutch said in a statement.

Sherry Silk, CEO of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, said the agency takes in about 1,000 animals every year that have been abused or neglected, but she hopes that number will soon change.

"We have Democrats and Republicans coming together. Who would think animals would bring them together? It's fantastic," Silk said.

"They all feel pain and they all suffer. They all feel loneliness. They're very much like we are, and I hope we find these people and I hope we can send them to jail for a very long time," Silk said.

The PACT Act does contain exemptions for hunting, medical care and actions that are necessary to protect the life or property of a person.

Anyone convicted under the legislation would face federal felony charges, fines and up to seven years in prison.