BREAKING: Real Filibuster Reform Dies in Senate as Reid and McConnell Agree to Watered-Down Deal

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has reportedly come to an agreement with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on a set of modest procedural changes to the filibuster, heading off the more substantial reforms for which a number of progressive senators have been calling. There will be no "talking filibuster."

Huffington Post has the specifics...

The arrangement between Reid and McConnell means that the majority leader will not resort to his controversial threat, known as the "nuclear option," to change the rules via 51 votes on the first day of the congressional session. Reid may have been able to get greater reforms that way, but several members of his own party were uncomfortable with the precedent it would have set. And Reid himself, an institutionalist, wanted a bipartisan deal for the longterm health of the institution. Reid presented McConnell with two offers -- one bipartisan accord consisting of weaker reforms, and a stronger package Reid was willing to ram through on a partisan vote. McConnell chose the bipartisan route.

Redi will rightly take some heat for what is clearly a major missed opportunity. But he doesn't deserve all of it. A number of Democrats were uneasy about making deeper changes, and it's not clear that Reid had those 51 votes in his pocket.