Let me save you the trouble of turning on C-SPAN2 and missing the Blue Plate special at the Olympia Diner. The motion will fail on a party-line vote. Even Senate Republicans who previously expressed a willingness to end oil subsidies will stick with Mitch McConnell and Team R on this one.

Jeff Bingaman, the Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will announce his retirement later today, according to sources. He becomes the sixth Senator – three Democrats, two Republicans, and Joe Lieberman – to announce their retirements in the past month.

Harry Reid has a draft of a climate and energy bill that he plans to bring to the Senate floor within a couple weeks, the Majority Leader said. That would begin the climate debate right around the end of the July work period, so I don’t know what that means for pushing back the deadline on the August recess; it could mean that Reid just wants a vote to highlight GOP obstructionism.

We’re looking at two main parts to the Senate’s energy and climate bill: a response to the BP oil spill and a renewable electricity standard. A cap on carbon emissions, even a utility-only cap, does not make an appearance.