WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of people who want to wipe out their debts in bankruptcy court would have to work out repayment plans instead under legislation Congress approved yesterday.

A 302-126 vote by the House sent the legislation to President Bush, who is eager to sign it, the biggest rewrite of the bankruptcy code in a quarter-century. It marks the second major change in law to benefit business since Republicans increased their House and Senate majorities in last fall’s elections.

Debate in the House was acrimonious as Democratic opponents warned that the measure would hurt the economically vulnerable.

After eight years of strenuous efforts by congressional backers, banks, and credit-card companies, the legislation was catapulted toward enactment earlier this year. The legislation, which garnered some Democratic votes, cleared the Senate last month on a 74-25 vote.

The measure would require people with incomes above a certain level to pay credit-card charges, medical bills, and other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.

Opponents say the change would fall especially hard on 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 crushing medical bills.

The legislation “protects the credit industry at the expense of the consumer,” Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat of Florida, declared in House debate. “It will drive more Americans deeper into financial crisis and weaken the nation’s economy and social structure.”

But backers in Congress and the financial services industry argue that bankruptcy frequently is the last refuge of gamblers, impulsive shoppers, divorced or separated fathers avoiding child support, and multimillionaires who buy mansions in states with liberal homestead exemptions to shelter assets from creditors.

Rep. David Dreier, a Republican of California, said the legislation would save families an average of $400 a year in higher interest rates now charged to consumers to recoup losses from the abuse of bankruptcy proceedings.

In a bitter scene on the House floor, Democrats – most of whom opposed the legislation – used an array of parliamentary maneuvers to delay the final vote, forcing an unsuccessful roll call vote on adjourning the session and lining up one by one to register their objections in brief, biting statements.

Democrats were furious that the GOP leadership allowed none of the 35 amendments they had proposed earlier to be voted on. They particularly wanted provisions that would exempt from the new bankruptcy requirements military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and people whose indebtedness is the result of financial identity theft.