US Senate Democrats acknowledged they don’t have the votes to pass a scaled-back energy bill Tuesday afternoon, a week and a half after acknowledging they don’t have the votes to pass a climate bill.

The new plan, says Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, is to rethink things over the August recess and then see about a September vote. Whether or not an extra month will help is anybody’s guess. This is an election year, and it would appear that lawmakers are in full electioneering mode, which makes even small compromises difficult.

In theory, Democrats control 59 of 100 seats in the Senate. That is by normal democratic standards a sizable majority, but this is the upper house of the US Congress. Even if Democrats stuck together – which they seldom do on energy and climate issues – they would still be one vote short of the 60 needed to overcome the infamous filibuster and do virtually anything, including reform filibuster rules and make it harder for minority parties to block votes.