Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is preparing legislation that would allow private citizens and corporations to sue government officials and agencies who stifle free speech and expression, according to a report published this week.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said Cruz intends to introduce a bill in the coming weeks that will allow consumers to win monetary damages in lawsuits when legal challenges are brought over government-imposed censorship.

The report comes about three weeks after Cruz criticized Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr for influencing a decision by two large broadcasters to pull episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from their ABC affiliates over a controversial monologue aired two days earlier.

During a podcast interview, Carr threatened unspecified regulatory action against Disney, the parent company of ABC, after taking issue with Kimmel’s critique of how President Donald Trump was processing the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Carr also said broadcasters who own stations affiliated with ABC should pre-empt the show as a response to the monologue. Two broadcasters, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, ultimately did just that before ABC put the show on a week-long hiatus. Nexstar and Sinclair have pending business transactions that require FCC approval, but both said their decision to pre-empt the show was not related to those deals.

On his own podcast, Cruz blasted Carr for interfering in ABC’s operations, saying his tactics were “right out of Goodfellas,” referring to the popular mobster movie from 1990.

“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,’…that’s right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,’” Cruz noted.

Cruz later called Carr a “good guy” and someone he works closely with in Washington, “but what he said is dangerous as hell.” The senator expressed concern that the tactics used by Carr could eventually be weaponized by a future administration on the other side of the political aisle. Cruz and Carr are both Republicans.

In an interview with the Journal, Cruz affirmed that his measure was inspired by the fallout over Kimmel’s remarks and Carr’s apparent influence in the matter.

“Censorship is wrong, regardless of who’s doing it,” he said. He later affirmed a willingness to work on the bill in a “bipartisan way,” though he offered no specifics.

Cruz told the Journal he was willing to appear on Kimmel’s show to discuss the bill, though he also claimed his own podcast was more-influential than the late night talk show. Kimmel saw a significant spike in ratings in his first episode following the hiatus, but the show’s viewership has fallen more than 60 percent in the weeks since, according to Nielsen ratings reviewed by The Desk.

The measure would create a private right of action for citizens who are aggrieved by government-influenced censorship, allowing them to receive monetary damages if their claims prevail in court.

Typically, government agencies and officials are protected by blanket immunity when their actions are connected to the positions. The bill proposed by Cruz would need to carve out exemptions to this effect.