Schumer, McCain team up for Senate filibuster deal WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York was riding a bicycle, leading a tour on Martha's Vineyard during a Democratic Party event Saturday, when his phone rang. It was Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, calling from his suburban Washington home. For days, the influential senators had been not-so-secretly trying to negotiate an end to the filibuster standoff in the Senate. They had spoken dozens of times. Now, 72 hours remained to cut a deal. Pragmatists both, and believers in the importance of preserving the Senate's traditions, they inched closer to an agreement, something the Senate's two party leaders, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), had been unable to do. Schumer and McCain had become friendly enough that they trash-talked at times. "I hope you crash," McCain joked as he signed off. Their partnership has been a high-stakes one, a relationship that did not exist a year ago, but that has grown stronger in a short time. Neither senator seems to have expected it. The two were key brokers of the bipartisan immigration overhaul, and on Tuesday they emerged as the architects of a plan to de-escalate the showdown over the filibuster. The Senate rule requires 60 votes to end debate on an issue, and Republicans were relying on it to hold up President Obama's appointments. Reid had threatened to do away with the filibuster for executive branch appointments, an unprecedented change. But Schumer and McCain found a way to preserve the rights of the minority party, now the Republicans, and clear the way for seven presidential nominees. "When we woke up this morning, we weren't sure we had it yet," Schumer said. We walk up to the brink, but we get there. The two tapped the frustration building in Congress as senators from both parties have tired of partisan gridlock. When senators convened Monday night for a rare private session in the Old Senate Chamber - the site of some storied disputes - signs of that fatigue spilled into the open. Rather than divide into their usual seating arrangement separated by an aisle, Democrats and Republicans settled down next to one another. Their BlackBerrys were silenced. They listened to one another. They stayed for more than three hours. "Frank," "heartfelt," "constructive," senators called the session. After 10 p.m., Schumer and McCain resumed their talks. Holed up in the majority leader's office with Reid and other Democratic leaders, Schumer, the No. 3 Democrat, worked on the deal. No food was delivered; they snacked on peanuts. McCain had assembled his own team by phone - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others - while he was at home in Virginia's Crystal City. "We talked and talked and talked and talked," said McCain, whose cellphone kept running down. The main sticking point was Obama's two nominees for the National Labor Relations Board. Obama had appointed them while Congress was on recess 18 months ago in a move that two federal courts have struck down as invalid. Now, it was up to the Senate to renew them. To protest what they called illegal appointments, Republicans were blocking the nominees and several others. "The issue was they wanted people who were not given a recess appointment the courts invalidated," Schumer said. A restive group of lower-ranking Democratic senators countered with a proposed rule change that would do away with the 60-vote threshold for executive branch nominees and allow approval by a simple majority.