While Monday brought us a tiny bit of optimism that Senate leaders might soon agree on the parameters of an energy debate, Tuesday didn't follow up on that possibility.

Senate leaders huddled at various points during the day, but Republicans still pressed for more than four amendments on an underlying oil speculation bill.

Meanwhile, the GOP continued to tie the Senate in procedural knots, refusing to take up other legislation, even if it had some kind of energy element to it.

That had Democrats spitting mad, as they fine tuned their election year rhetoric for why Republicans are to blame for the ongoing impasse on the high price of oil and gas.

"We know we can't drill our way out of the problem," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY.)

"No amount of drilling is going to solve our problem.  We know why they (the GOP) want drilling - Big Oil wants drilling," Schumer thundered on the Senate floor.

Republicans tried their best to jab back, still looking for ways to inject the energy debate into the last few days of this work period, before lamwakers head home for five weeks.

Over in the House, GOP members there were sharpening their rhetorical knives against both Democratic leaders and the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House.

"Obama, Pelosi Pandering to Radical Anti-Energy Groups by Blocking Vote on Lower Gas Prices," screamed the headline on a release from House GOP Leader John Boehner.

One interesting part of this maneuvering is that if Democrats do agree to a debate in which there are votes on offshore drilling and more, that might actually up the ante for Democrats in the House to do something.

Meanwhile, oil prices went down again on Tuesday, as demand for petroleum goes down.  Americans are definitely using less gasoline, which is certainly one reaction to the high prices for consumers.

We'll see if anything changes on Wednesday.