Washington - House Republicans yesterday played hardball with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a bill to overhaul bankruptcy laws, threatening that families of Sept. 11 victims could suffer unless he abandons a provision designed to crack down on violent protesters who attack abortion clinics and then declare bankruptcy to avoid fines.

The Republicans released a letter from the "Families of September 11" organization, urging a House-Senate conference committee to complete its work and proceed with the bill that, among other things, shields compensation payments to relatives of Sept. 11 victims from being taken into account as income when declaring bankruptcy.

House Judiciary Committee spokesman Jeff Lungren said Schumer's language on abortion clinics - which passed the Senate 80-17 but which is not in the House bill - "is holding up the whole bill. The families of 3,000 victims would be protected if the bill goes through. If he insists on this language, the whole bill will go down."

Schumer said he put the item in the bankruptcy bill as a way to blunt anti-abortion groups who advise protesters on how to declare bankruptcy after being convicted of a violent crime. He chastised the opponents of his abortion clinic provision for using the Sept. 11 victims for political purposes.

"I have compromised on this proposal again and again and have the votes of such strongly pro-life senators as Trent Lott, Rick Santorum and Chuck Grassley," he said, naming Republicans from Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Iowa, respectively. "Shame on the Republican Judiciary Committee staffers for using the victims of September 11 as a political football."

Schumer insisted he will not give up the abortion clinic provision. "I've had more pressure than that," he said. "They have tried everything under the sun, but they won't make me back off my principles. They have had financial services people call me. And I represent those financial services people in New York."

The House and Senate each approved the bankruptcy bill last year, and differences between the two versions are now being worked out. The legislation is designed to update bankruptcy laws and to make it harder for people of financial means to get government protection while avoiding their debts.

Some opponents have said it is unfair to the poor, but it won overwhelming approval in both chambers. But talks between the chambers have stalled over the abortion clinic provision and several others involving how much property debtors can shield from creditors when declaring bankruptcy.

President George W. Bush is backing the law and if a House- Senate deal is reached, the new law will be the most sweeping overhaul of bankruptcy law in 20 years.