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Fired Toys “R” Us Inc. workers took their travails to Congress yesterday to press for changes in the way private equity deals are structured, Bloomberg News reported. Potential U.S. presidential candidates Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were among Democratic senators who met yesterday with former staff members and workers’ rights groups. The ex-employees are asking for new leverage limits on private equity deals, along with a worker-protection tax and profit clawbacks that would fund payments in situations similar to the one now playing out with the demise of the private equity-owned U.S. toymaker. In a joint meeting with Sens. Booker and Bob Menendez, several workers, wearing blue and purple Toys ‘R’ Us or Babies ‘R’ Us shirts, asked the legislators to take action to prevent similar scenarios. Besides broader industry legislation, they asked that lawmakers urge creditors and the buyout firms to contribute to a hardship fund for the laid-off Toys workers. Menendez said that he and Senator Booker are considering specific policy proposals and may offer an amendment to the fiscal 2019 appropriations bill set for a vote in the coming days.

The House yesterday passed (406-4) a bipartisan package of 32 bills intended make it cheaper and easier for small businesses and startups to access capital markets and woo investors, The Hill reported. Lawmakers voted almost unanimously to pass the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act one day after the leaders of the House Financial Services Committee announced a deal following months of markups and negotiations. The package contains several dozen bills focused on capital markets regulations, all of which passed the Financial Services panel or House with little resistance. The deal also rolls back some Dodd-Frank Act banking rules with provisions that have also earned wide bipartisan support. he package now faces an uncertain future in the Senate. House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has said that Senate leaders have promised to hold a vote on the House measure, but the bill would need support from 10 Senate Democrats to pass. Hensarling secured a pledge from Senate leaders to take up the House deal when he promised to support the upper chamber’s bipartisan Dodd-Frank rollback, which President Trump signed in May.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, reached a compromise on a plan for dialing back financial rules that is poised to pass the U.S. House this week, Bloomberg News reported. The legislative package, which Hensarling and Waters unveiled yesterday, is largely aimed at making it easier for companies to raise money by lowering barriers to invest in startups and simplifying regulations for businesses to go public. Most of the 32 bills included make minor, incremental changes to existing rules. Others have already been adopted by federal agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. House lawmakers may vote on the measure as soon as today, which would send it to the Senate. The package leaves out contentious changes Republicans sought like tweaking the Volcker Rule or overhauling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While bipartisan support bolsters the legislation’s prospects, it still faces an uphill battle to become law.