The Senate met privately Monday evening at the Capitol, but emerged without a deal to avert the so-called nuclear option that would curtail the minority's ability to filibuster presidential nominees.
The Senate will now continue as planned with votes on seven stalled executive branch nominees, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's threat to change the body's rules hanging over the proceedings. Members of both parties said that negotiations toward a bipartisan solution would continue.
"We had a pretty good conversation; the conversation will continue tonight. Votes are scheduled for 10 o'clock in the morning," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters after the meeting.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is acting as the ringleader of an informal group of senators who are looking for a way to avoid the nuclear option, said that they were "still working, still working away, still discussing options. ... We're going to continue to negotiate and continue to talk."
But other senators described the three-hour meeting as long-winded, repetitive and ultimately unsuccessful.
"Both sides had plenty of speakers. All the points were made - sometimes repeatedly," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the chairman of the Senate Republican conference. "I don't think anyone's votes were changed. ... Right now it's kind of where we were going into the meeting."
"Nobody's willing to make any hard types of commitment at this point," Thune added.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who has worked with Democrats in the past to defuse tensions over the GOP's use of the filibuster, said he does not believe enough Democrats are interested in avoiding Reid's proposed rules change.
"I don't feel very good about [it], to tell you the truth," Alexander said. "I'm glad we had the meeting; I appreciate it. But there are too many senators who don't understand the danger of the precedent of a Senate that can change the majority any time it wants to."
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a longtime proponent of weakening the filibuster, said, "My hope is that we get rid of the filibuster for executive branch nominees. Let's get this over and done with."
The unusual, closed-door, joint caucus of Democrats and Republicans was viewed as an attempt to negotiate a bipartisan agreement to resolve differences over the use of the filibuster.
Democrats charge that Republicans have been abusing the parliamentary procedure to unfairly block President Obama's cabinet and executive branch agency nominees. The GOP counters that the majority has trampled on their rights in contradiction of Senate traditions.
Reid is threatening to change Senate rules so that only a simple majority -- rather than the 60 votes now required -- are needed to advance nominees. That would allow Democrats, who control 54 Senate seats, to act without consideration to Republicans.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., held out hope that "this could be worked out, even yet," telling reporters the two parties had been "very close" over the weekend before talks had broken down.
"There was a consensus that the leadership would continue to work, and I believe they will," he said.
In brief interviews with senators as they exited the meeting, it still appeared as though the chamber was on a collision course over a rules change that could have broad implications for how the chamber functions in the future.
Reid will call this week for series of votes on Obama nominees that Republicans have been delaying for months, including one to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the Dodd-Frank legislation, and a several to the National Labor Relations Board.
If completed, the rules change would not apply to judicial nominations.
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