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The Senate on Thursday approved a standing order curtailing “secret holds” that senators use to anonymously block legislation and nominations, a change that Senate leaders agreed to as part of deal announced on the floor Thursday to avoid some of the procedural battles that have hobbled the chamber in recent years.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also said they agreed to cut by a third the number of executive branch nominees requiring Senate confirmation.

The two also agreed that majority Democrats will allow Republicans to offer more amendments to legislation, and in return Republicans will not block legislation from coming to the Senate floor for consideration.

“The Senate should function as the founders intended it to function, and as the country needs it to function, not simply as slow as the rules will allow it to function,” Reid said on the Senate floor.

Reid and McConnell also agreed that in this Congress and the next, neither will use a parliamentary force play to change the Senate rules through a simple majority vote, a promise that will require all significant rules changes to garner the support of two-thirds of senators voting and present.

The agreement means that as long as either Reid or McConnell is majority leader, the chamber will not resort to the so-called “constitutional” or “nuclear option,” invoking a procedural maneuver using a simple majority of the Senate to approve a change in certain procedures and rules.

“The Senate is governed by a delicate mix of rules, rights and responsibilities,” Reid said. “To that mix, we must add respect.”

The Senate adopted the changes to secret holds (S Res 28) by a vote of 92-4 [bipartisanship! ), clearing the 60-vote threshold needed for approval under the leaders’ agreement. The four no votes came from Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Mike Lee, R-Utah and Rand Paul, R-Ky., all members of the new Senate Tea Party Caucus, plus Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Senators also approved, 81-15, another standing order (S Res 29) to prevent senators from forcing the reading of legislation or an amendment if the text has been available for 72 hours. That change also required only 60 votes for approval.

Neither change is an official revision of Senate rules; such revisions require the support of two-thirds of senators present and voting, or 67 when all 100 senators are in the chamber.

The change in the holds procedure would require disclosure of the identity of an obstructionist senator within two days of the time the senator notifies his or her party leader of an intent to place a hold, down from the current six days after a hold is announced on the floor. {I thought secret holds STAYED secret, and nobody had to own up to them ever?] If the senator does not step forward publicly, the hold would be attributed to that member’s party leader.

“What’s different here is every hold will have a public owner and there will be consequences,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of the sponsors of the secret holds change. “People will be named.”

Senate Rules Chairman Charles E. Schumer of New York and ranking Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have spearheaded weeks of negotiations between the parties, checking constantly with Reid and McConnell.

At this point, Reid said, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will take over drafting the legislation necessary to eliminate a requirement for Senate confirmation of hundreds of executive nominations.

The two leaders have prepared a colloquy for the Congressional Record that lays out their gentlemen’s agreement to allow more amendments and let legislation come up on the Senate floor more quickly.

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• S Res 8, defeated 12-84, which would reduce the number of votes needed to overcome filibusters.

• S Res 10, rejected 44-51, which would officially eliminate the use of filibusters to block legislation from coming to the Senate floor.

• S Res 21, defeated 46-49, which would force senators to continuously talk on the Senate floor if they want to filibuster legislation or nomination.

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