Senate Leaders Agree on Filibuster Changes

Would make it harder for single senator to block legislation from coming to the floor

U.S. Senate leaders reached a compromise agreement to change the chamber's rules to make it harder for a single member to slow down action on legislation, according to several senators.

Senate action on the measure may come today after Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada presents the proposal to fellow Democrats, according to a Senate aide. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, hadn't publicly announced the plan.

"It's a baby, baby step," Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who had urged broader rule changes, told reporters. The agreement "does nothing to alter the fact we have now become a de facto, 60-vote Senate" in which support from 60 of the chamber's 100 members are needed to advance major legislation, he said.