A congressional committee approved a bill Monday to crack down on online sex trafficking weeks after a Fort Collins police sting that ended with 21 men arrested for answering an ad that solicited sex.

Two Colorado congressmen are members of the House Rules Committee. The committee’s approval sets up H.R. 1865, the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act,” for a vote in the House as soon as Monday, Feb. 26.

The bill would increase civil and criminal penalties against persons who post the ads as well as the owners of websites where the sexual solicitations are posted. The penalties could include as much as 25 years in prison.

Internet companies like Reddit and Craigslist oppose the bill, saying it could punish them for acts of people they cannot control.

They also have questioned whether clamping down on the content posted on the Internet could violate First Amendment free speech rights.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Greeley, contributed some of the language to the bill.

“We need to fight sex trafficking with every available tool to ensure this heinous crime doesn’t ruin any more lives,” Buck said. “That’s why I’ll be supporting H.R. 1865.”

Buck is the former head of the criminal division of the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Witnesses at the hearing Monday said online sex trafficking is too far out of control to ignore.

“Sex trafficking is right here in our backyard,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

She described her home district that includes central Houston as an “epicenter” of sex trafficking as young persons who cannot support themselves financially are attracted to the area by the warm weather.

Foster children in early adulthood are common victims of online sex trafficking, she said.

“They age out and they leave their homes,” she said.

She described sex trafficking as worse than drug crimes.

“Drugs are consumed,” she said. “These youngsters are used over and over again.”

The bill creates an exception to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which grants immunities to website operators for content their users post.

A companion bill is pending in the Senate.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, also is a member of the House Rules Committee. He did not speak during the hearing Monday.

In the Fort Collins and Larimer County sting operation last month, police posted ads soliciting sex in the escort sections of some websites.

Police said 444 men responded to the ads. Twenty-one of them agreed to pay for sexual acts after scheduling appointments at hotels with presumed prostitutes.

Instead, they were met by police, who issued them citations before releasing them.