Washington ? The Enron debacle is increasing pressure on lawmakers to close a loophole in the nation’s bankruptcy code that allows millionaires in Texas, Kansas and several other states to declare bankruptcy and keep their mansions.

From the start, the federal bankruptcy laws have included some exemptions set by the states. Bankrupt homeowners in many states are allowed to keep a basic dwelling. However, five states Texas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota set no limit on how much can be shielded through this “homestead exemption.”

The rule allows lavish spenders, scam artists, stock promoters and business tycoons to maintain opulent homes while escaping legal debts.

Florida and Texas, in particular, have been known as havens for celebrities and the formerly wealthy who have gone broke. They have included actor Burt Reynolds, corporate raider Paul Blizerian, former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn and, most recently, O.J. Simpson.

Now, Senate Democrats are raising the prospect that this Texas-style exemption will shield Enron’s executives from the harsh consequences of bankruptcy.

If former Enron CEO Kenneth L. Lay declared bankruptcy to shield himself from creditors, “the Texas homestead law will allow him to keep an unlimited amount of equity in his 13,000-square-foot Houston penthouse, valued at $7.1 million,” Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said Wednesday. “There is no justice in a system that puts thousands of people on the street without a job and wondering about their rent, but that helps perpetrators live in multimillion-dollar homes.”

Congress has been moving to tighten the bankruptcy laws and has targeted individuals who seek to escape from their credit card debts. But lawmakers have disagreed on whether the crackdown should extend to wealthy homeowners in the states with the unlimited homestead exemption.

Last year, the Senate adopted an amendment sponsored by Kohl and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would set a uniform $125,000 homestead exemption as part of the bankruptcy reform bill. They argued that those who seek the protections of the federal bankruptcy system should play by the same rules, whether they live in California, Wisconsin or Texas.

But the House refused to scrap the open-ended homestead exemption in its version of the bill, and the issue has emerged as the key point of dispute on the legislation. Lawmakers from the two houses have met in a conference committee, but have not worked out their disagreements.