WASHINGTON - People will soon find it harder to dissolve medical bills and credit card debt in bankruptcy under a bill clearing its last major Senate hurdle yesterday after negotiations with the House.

Senate passage later this week and anticipated action by the House next month would deliver to President Bush the second of his pro-business legislative priorities after Republicans increased their majorities on both sides of the Capitol in November.

Last month, Congress sent Bush a law making it harder for injured plaintiffs to join each other and win multimillion-dollar class-action judgments against corporations.

Banks, credit card issuers and retailers have pushed for eight years for an overhaul of bankruptcy laws to force more people to repay at least part of the debt they owe. It nearly passed Congress in 2002, but it failed over a Democratic measure approved by the Senate and rejected by House Republicans to prohibit protesters from using bankruptcy to avoid paying court fines for blocking abortion clinics.

This year, with the Republicans'ranks in the Senate swelled by four members after last fall's elections, the abortion plank was rejected 53-46. Later the Senate voted 69-31 to limit further amendments and close the debate and hold a final vote this week.

The bill sets up a new test to measure people's income and assets against the median income in their state. Those with insufficient assets or income could still file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which erases debts entirely after certain assets are forfeited. Those with income above the state's median income who can pay at least $6,000 over five years would be forced into Chapter 13, where a judge would then order a repayment plan. According to current law, a bankruptcy judge determines under which chapter of the bankruptcy code a person falls.

"The sooner we finish work in the Senate and get the bill to the House, the sooner our bankruptcy system will be focused as it should be on helping those with real need, and less vulnerable to abuse by consumers who have the ability to repay their debts," said Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, the bill's primary author.

Frequently, supporters of the bill argued, bankruptcy is the last refuge of gamblers, impulsive shoppers, divorced or separated fathers avoiding child support, and multimillionaires, often celebrities, who buy mansions in states with liberal homestead exemptions to shelter assets from creditors.

Opponents of the bill tell stories of those who went bankrupt paying off medical bills . Most applicants "did not seek bankruptcy relief willingly," says Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

"Millions of . . . Americans in similar situations have filed for bankruptcy only after exhausting all other options."

A Harvard University study published recently found that costly illnesses led to about one-half of all personal bankruptcies and that most people who file for bankruptcy protection because of medical problems actually have health insurance.

Consumer and civil rights groups and unions say the legislation is unfair to low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly and would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face mounting medical bills.

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By MARCY GORDON

The Associated Press