Bob Menendez and the Democrats plan to call for unanimous consent to bring up their Oil Company Bailout Prevention Liability Act during this week, daring Republicans to stand with their corporate paymasters and stop them. Last time out, Lisa Murkowski was designated the defender of Big Oil. Today, it’s James Inhofe.

Menendez tried Tuesday morning to pass, by unanimous consent, his bill to increase the liability cap for oil companies’ offshore drilling accidents to $10 billion, up from the current $75 million cap.

Inhofe objected, saying that it was important to calibrate the amount by which the cap should be raised, pointing out that President Barack Obama hasn’t even yet set a hard figure. Inhofe also said that raising the cap by such a drastic amount would hurt independent oil producers, since all but the largest oil companies could weather such a large liability cap.

The move was the New Jersey senator’s second attempt at attaching the provision to the Wall Street reform bill, a provision crafted in response to the massive and continued spill from a BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Once again, we see the protection of “Little Oil,” as if there are mom-and-pop offshore drilling concerns who go out into the Gulf with a screwdriver and a bucket and fish for oil.

This is a bit of political gamesmanship. They could call up the Menendez bill as an amendment to the current bill on the floor, financial reform, and would need at most 60 votes to pass, which I think would materialize. But given that the bill is retroactive, there’s no great rush, and there’s value in showing directly who is on what side in this matter. Especially as the problem metastasizes, with oil now moving through the Loop current and possibly washing up on the shores of the Florida Keys. If the oil slick gets around the Keys, it could travel up the Atlantic coastline and potentially cross the ocean. So yes, I think the public should know who wants to hold BP and their allies virtually harmless for this disaster.