Letter template · US Senator
To a US Senator: support the Stop Wall Street Looting Act
Joint and several liability for private equity owners on portfolio company debts. The single most consequential PE accountability reform on the federal agenda.
Personalize. Connect this to specific local effects if possible — a closed retailer, a struggling hospital, a workforce reduction at a portfolio company. Specific local examples make this letter substantially more effective than abstract policy argument.
Dear Senator [Last Name],
I’m writing as a constituent in [city/town] to ask you to support the Stop Wall Street Looting Act and to advance its key provisions through any legislative vehicle that becomes available.
The private equity playbook in healthcare, retail, and other sectors typically ends with a portfolio company bankruptcy that wipes out workers’ pensions, severance, and back wages — while the PE owner has already extracted dividends, fees, and real-estate value during the hold period. The financial structure is designed so that the legal person who owes the workers (the portfolio company) has no money, and the legal person with the money (the PE fund) is shielded from the obligation.
The Stop Wall Street Looting Act would change this in several specific ways:
- Establish joint and several liability for PE owners on portfolio company debts in bankruptcy, allowing workers to reach the actual deep pockets when the immediate employer can’t pay.
- Limit dividend recapitalizations during the early holding period, preventing the immediate cash extraction that has hollowed out so many portfolio companies.
- Restrict certain real-estate sale-leaseback transactions that strip facilities of underlying assets.
- Restore worker priority in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Require PE firms to disclose ownership of healthcare and other regulated assets, ending the LLC-layered opacity that currently characterizes much of the sector.
[If applicable, insert a paragraph about a specific local effect — a closed business, a struggling hospital, a workforce reduction at a PE-owned employer.]
The bill has been reintroduced in multiple sessions. Constituent pressure on senators — particularly those on Banking, Finance, and Health committees — keeps it on the agenda even when it’s not advancing toward floor consideration.
I’d appreciate knowing your position and what legislative vehicles you see as plausible paths for advancing its key provisions.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
[Your name] [Your address] [Your email or phone, optional]