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WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic and Republican leaders are nearing new limits on the filibuster in an effort to speed action in the often-clogged chamber by prohibiting senators from using a common tactic to slow the legislative process.

Lawmakers and aides said the new rules, which both sides were preparing to announce on Thursday, would end the use of a procedural tactic that forces the majority party — Democrats currently — to marshal 60 votes to even bring a bill to the floor, sometimes killing it before it ever gets debated.

The practice of blocking a procedural step known as a motion to proceed, which must be cleared before a bill can advance to the Senate floor, has been used repeatedly and with increasing frequency by Republicans, who have been in the minority since 2007. In return for agreement, Republicans wrested a major concession from the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who has guaranteed that he will allow Republicans to offer two amendments.

The changes will surely disappoint reformers who were pushing for more sweeping revisions to rein in the filibuster, once a rarely used legislative tool. It will not include, for instance, a requirement that senators be present on the Senate floor when they want to block a bill from coming to a vote, continuing the practice of allowing them to filibuster in absentia. And opponents would still have the opportunity to filibuster a final vote on any legislation, thwarting its passage without 60 votes.

Though Mr. Reid has threatened to use his majority to push through changes if Republicans do not compromise, veteran lawmakers in both parties have historically been reluctant to force drastic changes in Senate rules, fearing they could boomerang on them if they return to the minority.

Senate negotiators continued to work out the final parameters of a compromise Wednesday, but members of both parties said the general framework of a deal was close to being finished. Remaining sticking points included how the filibuster could be applied to the president's judicial nominations.

Some Senators expressed relief that they finally appeared headed toward a resolution on one of the main issues that helped make the last Congress, the 112th, unproductive and inefficient.

"I think this would be a real boost towards ending the gridlock which has bedeviled us," said Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat.

"The unique thing about the Senate is we're supposed to debate — frequently and at length. And we're supposed to be deliberative," he added. "It's been allowed, I believe, to decline in that regard."

Mr. Levin echoed a sentiment that has been increasingly common among members of both parties: because of arcane parliamentary rules exploited by both parties, senators are not able to do the work they were elected to carry out.

Democrats have long complained that Republican obstruction has kept even the most routine measures from being dealt with in a timely manner. The number of times a motion for cloture has been filed — a procedure that begins a vote to end a filibuster — in the 112th Congress was 115. In the 111th Congress it was 137, more than double the number from when Democrats were in the minority during the early 2000s.

In turn, Republicans say they have been forced to block bills because of Mr. Reid's refusal to allow amendments on bills once they reach the floor, and his insistence that bills often bypass the committee process, tactics that prevent them from having much of a meaningful role in shaping legislation.

"It's important for us as Republicans to be able to offer amendments," said Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican who worked on a bipartisan filibuster compromise along with Mr. Levin and Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, all Democrats, and the Republicans Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John McCain of Arizona.

Added Mr. Barrasso: "I hope we're more functional. I want the body to function."

Democrats said Thursday that it appeared likely the deal would include one key provision to help accelerate the standard daylong waiting period between the time a successful vote to end a filibuster is taken and the final vote on the bill occurs. Currently senators can trigger that waiting period without even being in Washington.

But Mr. Levin said Wednesday that Mr. Reid would now require that senators actually be present and make the case on the floor.

"Reid believes this strongly," Mr. Levin said. "You want to filibuster, you're going to have to come here and do it."