The loss of a vote from the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WI) and defections by at least two key Republican Senators forced Democrats to re-open negotiations yesterday on a Wall Street Reform bill, to find a way to pay for it.

At issue was $19 billion in fees on big banks and large financial firms, a plan that was added just before sunrise on Friday morning as House-Senate negotiators moved to wrap up work on the financial reform package.

So, Tuesday evening, it was back to the public bargaining table for key lawmakers in both parties, as Democrats struggled to make sure that the plan did not go off the rails unexpectedly.

One change adopted by negotiators was to use $11 billion in leftover money in the Wall Street Bailout fund - the TARP - to pay part of the cost of the bill.

But another seemed likely to stir some opposition, as it involved raising fees levied by the FDIC on all banks.  Whether it would still mean Democrats were short of 60 votes in the Senate was not immediately clear.

"I think there's going to be enough interest in moving reform forward that we're going to get this done," President Obama said on Tuesday after a meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

While Obama expressed confidence, it seemed more and more likely that no final action would be taken by the Congress on Wall Street Reform until mid-July.

Lawmakers are off next week, and Democrats still might need Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to appoint someone who will vote for the financial reform measure.

A House vote on the plan could come as early as today, but Senate action - because of the Byrd seat - may not occur until the week of July 12 at the earlist."