(JNS.org) The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Taylor Force Act, which would cut U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the PA does not halt its payments to convicted terrorists and their families.

“This bill is pretty simple: If you finance or reward terrorism, you don’t deserve a penny from the United States,” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said after the vote.

The passage was swiftly praised by Jewish and pro-Israel groups.

“The House has taken a crucial step towards ending the PA’s intentional misuse of foreign assistance to financially reward Palestinian terrorists and their families,” said American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris.

Orthodox Union Executive Director for Public Policy Nathan Diament called the passage “a giant step toward ending the Palestinian Authority’s grotesque practice of ‘pay-for-slay.’”

Yet the current legislation does not call for a total cutoff of U.S. aid to the Palestinians. Instead, it freezes financial assistance provided by the U.S., with the exceptions of security cooperation and some humanitarian relief, until the PA stops the terror payments and takes “credible steps” to end violence.

The American legislation is named for a former U.S. Army officer who was killed in a Palestinian terror attack in Jaffa last year.

The bill, which was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in August, will now head to the Senate for a full vote. The Trump administration voiced its “strong support” for the legislation in September.