The wind has turned on Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, who clearly senses the very possible decline of his beloved filibuster and, with it, some of his remaining power. He staged a fascinating fit on the Senate floor this morning, rising to the defense of inefficiency and delay, stomping around his Senate desk in high indignation at the “affront to the American people” from ending unlimited debate.

Very few of those Americans share his profound concern. But he managed to get one man riled up — Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, who was so clearly annoyed at Mr. McConnell’s outburst that he announced, with no equivocation, that he would change the filibuster rules when a new Congress begins in January.

“We’re going to go ahead and change these rules so the Senate can become an effective body,” he said.



The specific change he mentioned is fairly minor: it would ban filibusters of the “motion to proceed,” which would end the routine Republican practice of blocking even debate on a bill. That would end a common delaying tactic and speed consideration of a bill, but would still allow senators to filibuster passage of the bill itself.

More tantalizingly, Mr. Reid also suggested he would move to end the silent filibuster, under which a single senator can object to a bill and thus trigger a 60-vote threshold for it to pass. Several younger senators have proposed a “talking filibuster,” requiring members who object to a bill to stay on the floor and keep discussing their reasons for blocking it. Mr. Reid seemed to like that idea as well.

“We’re not trying to get rid of the filibuster,” he said. “What we’re doing is changing this tiny aspect of what goes on around here, so people would have to do a couple of things. One, not file a filibuster simply getting on a bill. Also, if they want a filibuster, stand and talk about it, not be in your office someplace.”

If Mr. Reid and his caucus choose to do so, they can make these rule changes with a simple-majority vote at the beginning of the session. And that’s what infuriates Mr. McConnell, who knows he may not be able to stop it. In his debate with Mr. Reid this morning, he clearly attempted to appeal to nervous older Democrats who have lived under Republican majorities in the past, saying that if this rule change is made, Republicans could do anything they wanted if they ever achieve a majority again.

But the threats may not work this time. Mr. McConnell has knitted the Democrats together by abusing the filibuster to an unprecedented degree, far more than any group of Republicans or Democrats in the past. He said today that the changes Mr. Reid wants would “undermine the very purpose” of the Senate as a place where the minority’s rights are protected. That might be true if the filibuster were done away with, but Democrats are emphatically not proposing that.

They are proposing that the Senate be allowed to get back to its actual purpose, which is passing laws, confirming appointments and appropriating money. It’s about time.