Just as Democrats did in the House in June, Democrats in the Senate have indefinitely postponed committee work on a bill that has been used to routinely block new oil and gas exploration offshore.

The Senate Appropriations Committee was to have dealt with the underlying Interior budget bill on Wednesday, but that was scotched by Democrats, most likely for the same reason it was in the House.

The Dems were going to lose.

The Republicans might just have attracted enough votes from other Democrats on the panel to win, and thus block efforts for another year-long ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration.

But they never got the chance to find out.

"How undemocratic can you get?" asked an aggravated Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO.)

"What's next?  Will Democrats try to disband the Senate?"

Nothing against the former Governor of Missouri, but these tactics are really nothing new, as when Republicans ran the show, they also shielded their members from tough votes in election years.

Two years ago it was GOP leaders denouncing Democrats for delaying tactics.  Now it's Democrats blasting the GOP.  Blah, blah, blah.

As I have been reporting for weeks on end, there is little chance right now for a bipartisan deal on energy.  $4/gallon gasoline didn't do it.

I know that it is too much to ask of either party, but they could throw the energy bill out on the Senate floor like a hunk of red meat for a week solid, and let Senators actually legislate.

That doesn't happen too much anymore around here unfortunately.  When it does, the Senate becomes a much more interesting place.

But in recent years, the Senate has become too much like the House, with very structured debates. 

For now, Democrats have shut the door on moves to lift the ban on offshore drilling.  But it is going to be lifted anyway at the end of the fiscal year.

Unless there is divine intervention, the new fiscal year that begins October 1, 2008 won't have any legislative language about a ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, or limits on oil shale development out West.

Back in 1994, I remember how Democrats in the House snuffed out - at every opportunity - an effort by a conservative Democratic Congressman to cut some spending.

Rep. Tim Penny (D-MN) simply wanted to see the budget sliced a bit here and there.  But Democratic leaders refused to let him win.  They wouldn't throw him a bone, or the GOP lawmakers who backed Penny.

I always remember asking Democratic staffers why they wouldn't let him win just one budget fight, or cut out just a little from this program or that.

The response was always the same - if you let them win once, they will be back with much grander plans the next time.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching a repeat.