Gentleman's agreement on Sentate rules
Senate leaders said Thursday they have agreed that minority Republicans would filibuster fewer bills and nominations in exchange for a promise by the Democratic majority to give them more chances to offer amendments.
The gentleman's agreement announced by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell was part of a package of measures to make the Senate a more workable and less contentious place. It also included support of a resolution, to be voted on later in the day, to end the practice of one senator being able to secretly block votes and a rules change that would slash by a third the number of presidential appointments that need Senate approval.
I wonder where they found a gentleman in the Senate? This is actually a mix of actual rule changes and promises not to abuse the rules, but the formal rule changes are on the secondary stuff. We shall see what this actually changes, I suspect it won't have much real impact, just move things around a bit. If they go through with the changes to stop most secret holds on nominations though, that will be a small but good thing itself.
Jay