As early as Wednesday, your Representative in Congress will vote on a hugely important “Debt Slavery” Bankruptcy Bill (S. 256) that could literally change your life. The bill was written by representatives of the credit card industry, which made $30 billion in profits in 2004–and is now gunning for more.

The legislation would make it much more difficult for people turning to bankruptcy as a last resort to actually discharge their credit card debts under Chapter 7, which pays off debts by liquidating assets, offering a fresh start financially. Instead, it would force people into Chapter 13 with a rigid 5-year repayment plan, even after liquidating all assets.

In DC, the banking lobby’s line about frivolous debtors lacking personal responsibility plays well on both sides of the aisle. But, as Robert Scheer pointed out recently in a typically strong column, “for all of the whining about deadbeats ripping off the system, credit card companies’ annual pretax profits have soared two-and-a-half times in the last decade, and last year was their most profitable in more than fifteen years.”

The bill is nothing short of a blatant money-grab on the part of a powerful, lucrative industry taking advantage of the current climate in Washington to push through legislation which will hurt many Americans struggling to make ends meet.

If you’ve got a credit card, you’ve got a problem with this bill. So click here to protest this legislative travesty and check out DebtSlavery.Org–a coalition organized by Democrats.com, including The Nation–for more info on the bill and how you can work to oppose it before it’s too late.