Harry Reid (left) and Mitch McConnell will take on the issue over the next two weeks. Filibuster talks to drive Senate recess

The debate over filibuster reform is heading behind closed doors, as Democratic hopes for a 51-vote overhaul dim.

Democratic and Republican leaders said they will attempt to broker a deal during the upcoming two-week recess to improve how the Senate does business. Whatever compromise reached likely will be verbal and unlikely to retool hallowed filibuster rules, senators and aides say.


The end result of the talks is unclear, but Republicans hope they will force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to regularly allow a freewheeling process on the Senate floor that lets them offer amendments. Democrats want Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to stop launching time-consuming filibuster threats on even motions to begin debate on legislation.

The elimination of so-called secret holds, in which a senator can anonymously block legislation or a nominee, also remains a possibility.

Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, whose push to sharply reduce the filibuster’s power stems back to 1995, said that the GOP and Democratic leaders would “probably” reach a deal that would avert a need to change the rules.

“That’s the way things are usually done around here,” he told POLITICO.

While Democrats agree that the overuse of the filibuster needs to change, they are divided on how to do it.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) wants to force through a change by a simple majority of 51 senators, rather than by the two-thirds usually needed to change the rules, a tactic he says is allowed under the Constitution on the Senate’s first legislative day, which Reid has pushed back to Jan. 25. Some Democrats fear such a move would set a terrible precedent, if they return to the minority one day.

“I think that’s a problem,” Sen. Kent Conrad, a five-term North Dakota Democrat, said of the Udall approach.

The Democratic rules reform package, unveiled Wednesday by Udall, Harkin and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and backed by at least 23 of their colleagues, would end the use of filibusters on procedural votes and entail “talking filibusters,” or requiring senators to speak continuously on the Senate floor if they want to block legislation or a nomination. These days, a filibuster threat is enough to stop legislation.

The plan also would reduce debate time on nominees after a cloture vote to just two hours from 30 hours and eliminate a senator’s right to anonymously “hold” a nominee or legislation .

The package would include a provision to ensure the minority party can offer germane amendments to bills, an effort to appease Republicans who have complained that Reid often “fills the tree” and blocks them from attaching amendments to legislation.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said she “strongly supports” the Udall plan but that she’s hopeful a compromise is reached.

“Harry [Reid] has given them this time to come up with something, some rules changes they can agree to,” she said. “Because remember, one day Democrats may be in the minority. So we understand that this is doing these rules changes for the benefit of the Senate and for the benefit of the country, not for the benefit of any party.”

Over the next two weeks, parallel talks will occur between McConnell and Reid, as well as Rules Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the incoming ranking member, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Schumer said he met Alexander Wednesday night to talk about the issue and would continue to speak with him by phone over the upcoming break.

“My hope is we can come to a bipartisan compromise,” Schumer told reporters Thursday. “I would delude anyone to say ‘we’re there,’ but we had good discussions.”

“We’re working on two paths: one to build support for the principles we believe in and second to try and work out a compromise with the Republicans if we can,” Schumer said. “That would be our preference.”

That may be Democrats’ only hope.

Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, McConnell reiterated his opposition to changing the rules, saying it was an attempt to “nullify the election” results and “jam through a partisan agenda with no votes to spare.”

“We don’t think the Senate rules are broken,” McConnell said.

But he said the GOP was open to discussing “over the next few weeks what changes, if any, might be appropriate.”

After meeting with his caucus Thursday afternoon, Reid said “it’s very clear that Democrats want to change the rules.”

“They believe, as I believe, the rules have been abused,” Reid said. “And we’re going to work toward that. We hope that the Republicans see the light of day and are willing to work with us. If not, we’ll have to do something on our own.”

But asked whether he has enough support to change the rules by a simple majority like the Udall plan calls for, Reid demurred.

“Well, I’m not going to get into specifics,” Reid said. “We have lots and lots of support to change the rules.”

On Wednesday night, Reid made the procedural move to extend the first legislative day of the 112th Congress until Jan. 25, since proponents say changes to Senate rules can be made on that initial day with a simple majority vote of 51 senators instead of the usual two-thirds threshold. That gives party members more time to unite behind a plan but little margin for error once they return from their recess.

Asked if a bipartisan compromise was more likely, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) replied, “I hope so. I think everybody recognizes the need that wasting time here when our country is hurting is not helpful to any of us.”