Your credit card issuers are hoping that the sixth time will be the charm for a bill they’ve been pushing since the Clinton years: “The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act” (now S.256 & H.R.685). This legislation would make it more difficult for people turning to bankruptcy as a last resort to actually discharge their credit card debts.

Considering that most people who file for bankruptcy are squeezed middle-class homeowners who experience a job loss, divorce, or medical emergency (see Dan Frosch’s “Your Money or Your Life“), you’d think that Congress might be timid about introducing such a draconian bill with 46 million uninsured and on the heels of record job losses. As research from Demos shows, American families’ debt has skyrocketed over the past decade because of stagnant wages, rising basic costs, and abusive practices on the part of a deregulated credit industry. Many families are borrowing to make ends meet, and are just one missed paycheck away from financial collapse.

Somehow, though, that kitchen-table reality hasn’t reached the Washington bubble. In DC, the banking lobby’s line about frivolous debtors lacking personal responsibility plays well on both sides of the aisle. Perhaps that’s because the industry was Washington’s single largest contributor in 2000. Or perhaps it’s because they haven’t heard from you. Senator Specter (R-PA), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, held a hearing on February 11th on the Senate bill. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) is the main sponsor of the bill in the Senate, and Democrats Kennedy (MA) and Durbin (IL) are leading the fight against it.

Click here to contact your Senator now. If you’ve got a credit card, you’ve got a problem with this bill. With the threat of consumer bankruptcy defused, issuers will have no reason to refrain from escalating the fee and penalty rate wave they’ve been riding to record profits in recent years.