So is it the Democrats’ messaging that completely sucks or are they just complete, gutless cowards? You know they are in bad shape when they can’t even pass this mild “reform” because they’re too afraid to fight the GOP who can’t stop supporting Wall Street’s bad behavior. Either way, they suck. Why do we vote for these people?

House and Senate negotiators hoped for a vote in the House on Wednesday and to secure the votes of three straying Republicans in the Senate. The Senate vote, however, is not likely until after Congress’ weeklong July 4 break.

The death of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., this week and fresh objections from Republican Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine had threatened to derail the bill, already a year in the making.

Eager to salvage one of President Barack Obama’s legislative priorities, Democrats altered the formula that would have paid for the legislation by eliminating a contentious $19 billion fee on large banks and hedge funds.

Instead, House and Senate negotiators, voting along party lines, agreed to pay for the bill with money generated by ending the unpopular Troubled Asset Relief Program — the $700 billion bank bailout created in the fall of 2008 at the height of the financial scare.