{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jayapal.house.gov/2026/09/24/jayapal-warren-lawmakers-announce-reintroduction-of-comprehensive-stop-wall-street-looting-act/", "Jayapal, Warren, Lawmakers Announce Reintroduction of Comprehensive Stop Wall Street Looting Act", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Pramila Jayapal", "J000298", "jayapal.house.gov", "jayapal", "https://jayapal.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Text of bill can be found here.\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), , Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (D-Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), reintroduced the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, comprehensive legislation to fundamentally reform the private equity industry and level the playing field by forcing private investment firms to take responsibility for the outcomes of companies they take over, and by empowering workers and protecting investors.\n\nThe legislation would make private equity firms responsible for the debts of the companies they control, while cracking down on practices that allow private equity firms to load companies with debt, extract profits from them, and walk away scot-free when those companies fail. The bill would also strengthen protections for workers and consumers, require private equity firms to disclose more information about the management and advisory fees they charge, and place guardrails on firms that receive taxpayer funds. Finally, it would limit the role of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in health care and eliminate certain tax benefits for REIT investors.\n\nThis re-introduction follows the landmark bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act\u2019s becoming law this summer \u2013 the first-ever legislation to rein in private equity. The law stops private equity and other corporate landlords from buying up single-family homes.\n\n\u201cToo many companies that people love and depend on, including nursing homes and grocery stores, have fallen victim to private equity,\u201d said Representative Jayapal. \u201cWall Street private equity firms claim to improve efficiency, but often they rip apart brands, wrack up debt, and abandon workers, communities, and investors. We have to stop this multitrillion-dollar industry from getting away with this, and our bill does that by making private equity firms responsible for the outcomes of their takeovers and protecting workers from corporate greed. We must stop Wall Street looting and put people over profits.\u201d\n\n\u201cFar too often, private equity firms will buy these companies, load them up with debt, and then lay off a ton of workers \u2013 all to produce huge returns for their super-wealthy investors,\u201d Representative Landsman said. \u201cOur bill will hold these firms accountable so we can protect jobs and businesses for hardworking Americans.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s long past time for billionaires and big corporations to stop gambling with hardworking Americans\u2019 and their communities\u2019 assets in service of corporate greed,\u201d said Representative Pocan. \u201cIn Wisconsin, we\u2019ve seen what happens when private equity firms like Sun Capital raid companies for their wealth and leave workers and communities to pick up the pieces. When Sun Capital took over Shopko \u2013 a Wisconsin-based retail chain that had stood strong for more than 50 years \u2013 they drained it dry, buried it in debt, pushed it into bankruptcy, and abandoned roughly 14,000 workers. This bill will finally hold these predatory firms accountable and protect workers from being plundered by corporate greed.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis year, Congress proved with our bipartisan housing law that we can stop private equity from rolling through industry after industry, jacking up prices and leaving businesses and workers in the dust,\u201d said Senator Warren. \u201cTheStop Wall Street Looting Act takes a stand against private equity\u2019s legal looting and puts power back in the hands of workers and consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn places like Janesville, Waukesha, and Green Bay, we have seen out-of-state investors buy Wisconsin businesses, raid them, and then shutter their doors\u2014leaving Wisconsin workers and communities to suffer,\u201d said Senator Baldwin. \u201cOur legislation takes on private equity and Wall Street\u2019s greed and better protects our Wisconsin workers from these predatory practices.\u201d\n\n\u201cMore and more, private equity is taking over various aspects of American life, bringing its harmful playbook to essential industries\u2014including housing, health care, child care, and local newspapers,\u201d said Senator Merkley. \u201cCorporations need to be responsible when private equity prioritizes shareholders\u2019 profits at the expense of service, quality, and good-paying jobs.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrivate equity companies often come into communities promising to revitalize businesses or turn around struggling hospitals. But we routinely see them extract maximum value for themselves at the expense of workers and ordinary people, \u201d said Senator Smith. \u201cThis legislation will hold private equity companies accountable and put an end some of their most egregious practices.\u201d\n\nSince 2020, private equity fund assets have grown exponentially, reaching over $9 trillion in 2025 compared to $4.5 trillion in 2020. Private equity funds have purchased companies in nearly every sector of the economy \u2014 from nursing homes, to newspapers, to grocery stores \u2014 laying off hundreds of thousands of workers and ruining thousands of companies in the process.\n\nThe private equity industry claims to invest in companies while also earning high returns for investors by using their management expertise to make the companies\u2019 operations more efficient, and then selling the companies at a profit. In reality, private equity funds often load mountains of debt on the companies they buy, strip them of their assets, and extract exorbitant fees and dividends, guaranteeing payouts for themselves regardless of how the investment performs. When their debt-ridden investments go belly-up, private equity funds walk away with no responsibility for the mess they create, leaving workers in the lurch and forcing communities to clean up their mess.\n\nThe Stop Wall Street Looting Act will:\n\nRequire Private Investment Funds to Have Skin in the Game. Private equity firms, the firm\u2019s general partners, and their insiders will all be on the hook for the liabilities of companies under their control\u2014including debt, legal judgments, and pension-related obligations\u2014to better align the incentives of private equity firms and the companies they own. Liability would not extend to the fund\u2019s limited partners, ensuring that only those that control portfolio firms are on the hook. In order to encourage more responsible use of debt, the bill ends the tax subsidy for excessive leverage and closes the carried interest loophole.\n\nEnd Looting of Portfolio Companies. To give portfolio companies a shot at success, the bill limits how much money private equity firms can extract from companies and closes the loophole that private equity firms have used to hide certain assets from bankruptcy courts. Every transaction since Steward Health Care was bought by private equity would be subject to review as part of Steward\u2019s bankruptcy to determine whether it can be clawed back as a fraudulent transfer.\n\nProtect Workers, Customers and Communities. This proposal prevents private equity firms from walking away when a company fails and protects workers and communities by:\n\nPrioritizing workers\u2019 pay in the bankruptcy process and amending the laws to increase the priority claims for unpaid earnings and other benefits from $10,000 to $20,000 per worker.\n\nCreating incentives for job retention so that workers can benefit from a company\u2019s second chance.\n\nEnding the immunity of private equity firms from legal liability when their portfolio companies break the law, including the WARN Act. When workers at a plant are shortchanged or residents at a nursing home are hurt because private equity firms force portfolio companies to cut corners, the firm should be liable.\n\nExpanding protections for striking workers by clarifying unfair labor practices and the employer duty to bargain.\n\nEmpower Investors by Increasing Transparency. Private equity managers will be required to disclose fees, returns, and other information about their funds and the corporate loans they make so that investors can monitor their investments. This would have required Cerberus to disclose the terms of its investments in Steward Health Care, which Cerberus continues to withhold from Congress.\n\nPut Guardrails Around Accessing Public Funds. Firms receiving any funds from a federal or state agency must publicly disclose how the funds are used and will be prohibited from acquiring any company or making a distribution to investors for two years after receipt.\n\nDrive REITS out of Health Care. Prohibits payments from federal health programs to entities that sell assets or use assets for a loan collateral made to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) d; repeals a rule in the Tax Code that allows taxable REIT subsidiaries to exert influence on the operations of health care entities; and removes the 20 percent pass-through deduction, passed in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, for all REIT investors. Ralph de la Torre executed a sale-leaseback transaction of the Steward properties in exchange for a $1.25B payout from a REIT; this would have banned the hospitals from continuing to receive federal dollars upon executing the property sale\u2014thus likely preventing the sale.\n\nThe bill is supported by ACRE-BCG, AFL-CIO, Americans for Financial Reform, American Center for Economic and Policy Research, Communication Workers of America, Demand Progress, Economic Liberties Project, American Federation of Teachers, Center for Popular Democracy, Community Catalyst, Community Change Action, Economic Policy Institute, Future of Music, Indivisible, National Nurses United, National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, National Women\u2019s Law Center Action Fund, Open Markets Institute, People\u2019s Action Institute, Players Alliance HQ, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Public Citizen, SEIU, Strong For All Coalition, Student Borrower Protection Center, Take on Wall Street, UNITE HERE, and United for Respect.\n\n\u201cThe Stop Wall Street Looting Act would put workers and their communities first \u2014 above private equity companies that make it a sport to buy and sell companies, raise prices and sell off what remains for parts. We deserve better and holding Wall Street accountable is a critical step toward correcting its unchecked power over our lives, homes and jobs,\u201d said Saqib Bhatti, Executive Director of the Action Center on Race & the Economy and the Bargaining for the Common Good Network (ACRE-BCG)\n\n\u201cPrivate equity has gotten away with a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose business model for far too long. They take control of businesses, bury them in debt, strip out assets, fees, and dividends, and walk away richer, while workers lose their jobs, consumers pay more, and communities lose essential businesses and services. Families are already struggling to afford basic needs\u2014the last thing they need is more of the economy organized around Wall Street extraction,\u201d saidOscar Vald\u00e9s Viera, Americans for Financial Reform Senior Policy Analyst. \u201cThe Stop Wall Street Looting Act would break this business model and make private equity firms answer for the risks they create and the damage they leave behind. That accountability is especially urgent as the Trump administration moves to include private equity in workers\u2019 401(k) retirement accounts. Workers should not be forced to risk their jobs, their communities, and now their retirement savings to subsidize Wall Street\u2019s destructive business model.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere at Economic Liberties we\u2019ve documented what happens when private equity takes over the institutions people depend on. Hospitals are gutted, physician practices are squeezed for fees and forced to cut corners and patients wait longer for worse care. The firms engineering this destruction have been legally insulated from the consequences. The Stop Wall Street Looting Act ends this arrangement,\u201d said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. \u201cIf you control a company, you\u2019re responsible for what it does. That principle is essential to breaking up Big Medicine, but really to protecting workers and communities in every sector private equity has strip-mined.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is exactly the type of leadership that our legislators need to exhibit right now! We all must stand up to Wall Street and private equity\u2019s attack on our economy and democracy,\u201d said DaMareo Cooper, Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. \u201cIt is the role and responsibility of those who have taken the oath of office to stand up against predatory corporations and protect the life and liberty of workers and consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen entities prioritize revenue over the health and economic well-being of the communities they serve, healthcare rapidly becomes out of reach; both geographically when healthcare facilities in neighborhoods close, and economically when people get squeezed for every cent,\u201d said Shaina Goodman, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Community Catalyst. \u201cWe are grateful to the bloc of legislators sponsoring the Stop Wall Street Looting Act to start addressing the pernicious effects private equity control of healthcare facilities is having on communities nationwide.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe private equity lobby claims to \u2018build better businesses\u2019 and deliver strong returns for workers\u2019 retirements. Don\u2019t believe it. The private equity model isn\u2019t about efficiency gains \u2014 it\u2019s about exploiting tax loopholes and regulatory gaps, saddling businesses with debt, and stripping their assets,\u201d said Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz. \u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018heads I win, tails you lose\u2019 bet, and workers, suppliers and communities are left holding the wreckage when it fails. And the risks are growing as private equity expands and these high-cost, risky, opaque investments get pushed onto 401(k) savers. The Stop Wall Street Looting Act is essential legislation to address a looming threat to workers\u2019 retirements and to our economy.\u201d\n\n\u201cMusicians have seen extractive private equity creep into every corner of our industry, propping up predatory ticket resale business models, gobbling up recordings and publishing rights, squeezing the life out of local radio, print and web journalism, and asset stripping crucial businesses like instrument retailers and gear manufacturers all the way into bankruptcy. Congress can put an end to this extraction, so executives bear responsibility rather than shifting the harm onto workers and music fans,\u201d said Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition, Kevin Erickson.\n\n\u201cWe are facing a crisis in this country of companies being starved by their private fund owners of the capital they need to protect the safety and wellbeing of their workers and customers,\u201d said Audrey Stienon, Industrial Policy Program Manager at Open Markets Institute. \u201cIt is imperative that those with the ultimate power to influence companies\u2019 actions also be held accountable for the impacts of those actions on American people and communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe gaming industry isn\u2019t dying, it\u2019s being drained for all it\u2019s worth. Private equity buys studios with no intention of making a good product. To private equity firms, these companies are just another way to squeeze money out of other people\u2019s work while hanging workers and consumers out to dry,\u201d said Chris Nunn, Member Leader, Players Alliance HQ. We just watched this with the EA buyout. This cannot become the new norm. Games should belong to the people who make them and the gamers who play them, not private equity. This is why we gamers support the Stop Wall Street Looting Act.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Stop Wall Street Looting Act\u2019s reintroduction comes at a critical time in our nation\u2019s history. As most of the country struggles with affordability, private equity firms continue to extract wealth from our families and communities,\u201d said Chris Noble, Policy Director for the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. \u201cWall Street\u2019s never-ending pursuit of profits and lack of accountability has not only bankrupted companies, it has also harmed our democracy. By passing SWSLA, Congress can establish the type of oversight of private markets that befits a democratic society.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe all pay the price when private equity\u2019s predatory practices go unchecked in our communities. Companies prioritizing profits over people have decimated nursing homes, closed the doors to community hospitals and other facilities and made it harder for healthcare workers to advocate for their patients through unions,\u201d said SEIU Executive Vice President Leslie Frane. Working people are fed up, and we\u2019re putting that anger to work to unrig a system that has allowed private equity to put profits ahead of working families and our communities. That is why SEIU members are urging Congress to pass the Stop Wall Street Looting Act so we can hold private equity accountable.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn one side of our country, families are being crushed by the rising cost of food, healthcare, utilities, and everyday needs. Hundreds of thousands have been laid off,\u201d said Charles Khan, Deputy Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition. On the other side, ruthless and greedy Wall Street billionaires and their private equity firms are looting large and small businesses to get rich while everyone else pays the true costs. It\u2019s time for our government to stand up for workers and our families against the billionaires. We need the Stop Wall Street Looting Act ASAP.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Stop Wall Street Looting Act removes the ability of private equity funds to extract cash from companies they acquire via sale-leaseback deals, dividend recapitalizations, and monitoring fees,\u201d said Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. \u201cThese legal but unscrupulous practices enrich PE firms and their investors. But they undermine the financial stability of the companies they acquire g, squeeze their workers, and reduce the quality of their products and services, hurting employees, customers, and communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrivate equity roll-ups are a proven source of anticompetitive behavior throughout the American economy,\u201d said Carter Dougherty, Senior Fellow for Antimonopoly and Finance at Demand Progress. \u201cThis predatory strategy results in less competition and choice \u2014 and higher costs \u2014 for consumers and the economy as a whole.\u201d\n\n\u201cConsumer Voice strongly supports the Stop Wall Street Looting Act. Too often, private equity firms have bought nursing homes, sold off the buildings, loaded the operators with debt, and taken fees and dividends while residents lived with too few staff and worse care. When the facility fails, the residents and workers pay for it, and the investors walk away. This bill would make the funds that control these facilities answerable for what happens in them. Residents deserve owners with a real stake in their care,\u201d said the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jayapal.house.gov/2026/09/24/jayapal-warren-lawmakers-announce-reintroduction-of-comprehensive-stop-wall-street-looting-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1412049643695354, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}