Talks over ObamaCare between conservative and liberal Democrats in Congress have collapsed and the votes don’t exist to pass the legislation, the Associated Press reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The head of a group of fiscally conservative Democrats says negotiations with House leaders on health care have collapsed.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., who heads the Blue Dogs’ health care task force, told reporters Friday that after a week of talks, the effort to reach agreement between the leadership and the conservative to moderate Democrats fell apart. He said that leaves Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., without the votes to advance the health care bill out of his committee.

What caused the collapse? Apparently Waxman promised things to the Blue Dogs and then rescinded them during today’s meeting:

Waxman had agreed to include language in the bill that would grant an outside commission authority to recommend cuts to government-funded health care programs. According to Ross, he had also agreed to include Senate language that would let doctors and other health care providers negotiate rates with the government-sponsored public health care plans.

But in the Friday session, Waxman told the group that he was taking both concessions off the table, Ross said afterward.

The Blue Dogs are further inflamed that Waxman has threatened to circumvent his own committee to override their concerns.

Which is why it would be suicide for Waxman to bypass his own committee, as well as the basic tenants of democracy, in order to force a floor vote. A large chunk of the Democratic caucus is conservative. With other major initiatives coming down the pike, would you want to alienate a large enough section of the party to destroy your entire legislative agenda?

This has become a clusterfark for Democrats. They began with a wildly popular president, the public’s support for the legislative agenda, and enough votes in Congress to pass just about anything. Now they have a president with falling approval ratings, the public firmly against ObamaCare, talks between factions of the Dem party falling apart, and the leadership in Congress lacking the votes to pass the flagship of Obama’s domestic policy.

How did they screw that up?