In another sign that Obamacare is most likely dead, the New York Times reports today that unions are backing away from a deal they struck last month to support health care legislation as long as the tax on benefit-rich health care plans was delayed for union members.

When the deal was struck last month, it removed one of the last remaining barriers to passage of a comprehensive health care bill, which was seen as all but assured of passage until Scott Brown’s victory threw a monkey wrench into Democrats’ plans.

From the article:

“I do not believe there will be an excise tax enacted,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America. “It appears that the administration and Congress will be taking a much more modest approach to health care reform. The cost and value of such reform would not justify using an excise tax.”

Without a deal with unions, any hope of passing a health care bill would die. And the mere fact that a top union official is stating that he’s assuming any legislation would be vastly scaled down suggests that labor is assuming a comprehensive bill is off the table.