Senate keeps filibusters, makes other changes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate leaders reached an agreement on Thursday to make their chamber more efficient and less contentious -- yet preserve the right to stop legislation with procedural hurdles known as filibusters.

The accord seeks to reduce Republican use of filibusters, however, with a Democratic commitment not to routinely prevent Republicans from offering amendments in the Democratic-led chamber.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, announced the deal after weeks of negotiations and Democratic threats to ban filibusters.

"Just as I will exercise restraint (not to prevent Republican amendments), he (McConnell) and his Republican conference will curtail their habit of filibustering," Reid said.

Use of filibusters have soared in recent years, regardless who is in the minority. They are used to slow down or even kill legislation, prompting complaints of partisan gridlock.

Sixty votes are needed in the 100-member chamber to end a filibuster. Democrats now control the Senate 53-47.

McConnell said he was optimistic that he and Reid "can convince our colleagues that we ought to get back to operating the Senate as we did as recently as three or four years ago when bills came up and they were open for amendment ... and at some point the bill would be completed."

The Reid-McConnell accord also ends the ability of individual senators to place "secret holds" on bills or nominations.

In addition, it aims to curb another stalling tactic -- requiring the Senate clerk to read aloud amendments, many of which could be hundreds of pages long.

It would also seek to ease a logjam of presidential nominations by reducing the number that need Senate confirmation.

Chris Krueger of MF Global, a private firm that tracks Washington for institutional investors, said: "It's too early to say how this will work out."

Krueger said the key element of the accord was preserving the right to filibuster, particularly by the Senate minority.

Some Senate Democrats had wanted to eliminate the filibuster, complaining that Republicans have made it a frequent weapon.

But other Senate Democrats balked. They figured that eventually they will be back in the Senate minority and will want to use the filibuster.

As a senior Republican put it: "Democrats know that when we get back in control of the Senate, they'll need to filibuster to prevent us from rolling back plenty of stuff," including their overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)