The first setback came in the Senate Finance Committee, as chairman Sen. Max Baucus made clear his panel would not produce a health care bill before the end of June.

Waiting until after a July 4th break to come up with a way to pay for what seems to be at least a $1 trillion plan could prove even more problematic for Democrats, as they've been unable to rally around one plan.

Meanwhile, the first public day of work by the Senate Health committee quickly became a finger pointing exercise, as Democrats called for action, and Republicans demanded to know where the details were, pointing out that three sections of the bill were blank.

"Intentionally," admitted Sen. Chris Dodd, running the panel for the absent Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Democrats were still working on those key sections and said they wouldn't turn them over to Republicans until sometime on Thursday - and would then give the GOP less than a day to offer amendments to those still-unknown details.

"At what point in this mark up are we going to have cost estimates?" demanded Sen. John McCain, who got into a verbal tiff with Dodd only a few minutes after the gavel had dropped.

Democrats had thought by now that they would be rallying support for a plan, but instead, they are facing increasing questions about how much it's going to cost.

And so far, they've been unable to make those questions go away.

Even if the Health Committee produces a bill, the Finance Committee must still approve ways to pay for it. And right now, the votes obviously aren't there to do that, which definitely could mean further delays on reform.

All of the trouble started on Monday evening, when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Democratic plan - one that Kennedy had filed earlier this year - would cost at least $1 trillion over ten years and would leave over 30 million people uninsured.

Republicans immediately grabbed those figures and ran, while Democrats seemed off balance, and unsure how to respond. The White House suggested it wasn't even the real bill.

But therein lies some of the problem, as Democrats don't have "one" bill, making it harder to get lawmakers to coalesce around one set of options.

Chairing the Health panel for Kennedy, Sen. Dodd alluded to the historic Russell Caucus Room, where the work session was being held, noting that hearings on Watergate and more had happened there.

"I was going to mention the Titanic, but I thought that would be a bad analogy," Dodd said to chuckles.

It's true. The Senate did hold hearings on the Titanic in that room. Democrats hope their health care bill doesn't sink there this time.