1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I write to urge you to oppose H.R. 8250. While well-intentioned goals may underlie this bill, it is structured in a way that places responsibility on the wrong parties, creates opportunities for blame-shifting, and opens the door to significant misuse by bad actors. First, H.R. 8250 assigns duties and enforcement mechanisms to entities that lack the proper expertise, authority, or accountability to carry them out effectively. Shifting responsibility away from the agencies or bodies actually equipped to address the underlying problems will produce confusion, inefficiency, and gaps in oversight rather than meaningful solutions. Second, the bill institutionalizes a “blame someone else” approach: it incentivizes passing off responsibility rather than fixing root causes. That encourages bureaucratic finger-pointing and offloading of costs and risks onto individuals or organizations that did not create the problem and are ill-positioned to manage it. Third, the bill contains weak safeguards against misuse. Its broad delegation of power and insufficient transparency and accountability provisions create clear opportunities for corrupt organizations or bad actors to exploit the law for private gain, to target political opponents, or to circumvent proper oversight. If the goal is to solve the underlying issues H.R. 8250 purports to address, legislative efforts should instead focus on (1) placing authority and accountability with the agencies and institutions that have demonstrated expertise and clear chains of responsibility; (2) designing targeted, evidence-based solutions that address root causes rather than shifting burdens; and (3) including strong transparency, auditing, and anti-abuse provisions to prevent exploitation. For these reasons, I respectfully ask you to oppose H.R. 8250 and to support alternative measures that assign responsibility appropriately, close root-cause gaps, and include robust safeguards against abuse. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.