WASHINGTON — With Democrats citing last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a cautionary tale, the Senate on Wednesday decisively rejected a Republican plan to allow more coastal oil and gas exploration and to speed the issuance of drilling permits to oil companies.

The 57-to-42 vote against the measure came a day after Republicans rejected a Democratic plan to end tax breaks for oil companies as both parties sought to gain political advantage with frustrated consumers contending with high prices at the pump.

Republicans said that the measure proposed by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was a modest, common-sense approach to lowering gas prices by trying to influence the market through increased production from the nation’s ample resources.

“Instead of punishing a handful of companies within the oil and gas industry, we provide new opportunities to put Americans back to work,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said. “Instead of ignoring high fuel prices, we take meaningful steps to restrain and ultimately reduce them.”