Senate Democratic leaders could not muster enough votes Tuesday to keep alive an energy bill that would impose what supporters call a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

The chamber fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to invoke cloture and end debate on the motion to proceed to the bill. The tally was 51-43.

The result came as little surprise to either party, but the debate gave both a chance to continue trading blame for the price of gasoline. The showdown appeared driven more by politics than policy, in an election year in which the price of regular gasoline for the first time topped an average of $4 a gallon.

The bill, almost identical to one Democratic leaders introduced last month, was packed with several provisions Democrats know are non-starters for most Republicans, including a tax on profits higher than 10 percent above a past average — the so-called windfall profits tax — and language to roll back $17 billion in tax breaks for oil companies.

But Democrats brought it to the floor anyway, using it as a chance to get back at Republicans for stalling debate on a climate change bill last week.

“Across the country, people are asking, why aren’t you doing something?” said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill.

During debate on the climate change bill, Republicans pointed to what they called the high cost of the legislation and blamed Democrats for high energy prices because they have blocked efforts to drill for oil and gas in U.S. coastal waters and Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Democrats’ latest move gave them an opportunity to focus much of the blame for high prices on the oil companies and to portray Republicans as sympathizing more with industry than consumers.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell , of Kentucky said the Democratic package is “not a serious response to high gas process, it’s a gimmick.”

The White House meanwhile threatened a veto of the bill, saying it would “undercut U.S. energy security and decrease U.S. energy production, thus exacerbating market tightness and increasing energy prices.”