Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday criticized Johnson & Johnson’s use of a Texas statute and the bankruptcy code to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging the company’s talcum powder products gave women cancer, with some senators accusing the business of abusing the law.

The comments came during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday examining the so-called “Texas Two-Step,” where a company uses a Texas divisional merger statute to split into two entities: One that takes on the company’s liabilities then files for bankruptcy, and another that gets most assets and continues the business. A similar statute exists in Delaware.