The Huffington Post's Sam Stein described the agreement as "a set of relatively small changes in to the upper chamber's rules, including an informal pact to reduce the number of filibusters in exchange for allowing more amendments from the minority party."
According to The Washington Post the agreement "left intact the essential concept of the minority's right to block some legislation by requiring a 60-vote threshold through a threatened filibuster."
The newspaper reported that the leaders did agree "to repeal the decades-old stalling tactics of secret holds, in which an anonymous senator could slow action on a bill, and the ability to force amendments to be read in their entirety on the floor." 
Stein concluded that the agreement "falls well short of what rules-reform advocates had sought." Stein notes the more far-reaching reforms proposed by Sens. Tom Harkin (pictured), Tom Udall, and Jeff Merkley. Some of those reforms included requiring a certain number of senators to be present on the floor in order to sustain a filibuster.
The New York Times in a recent editorial called on the Senate Democrats to adopt reforms advanced by those senators, saying the Senate had a "rare opportunity to reduce the abuse of the filibuster and increase the chances that the people's work actually gets done. Instead, they are close to an agreement on a watered-down package of changes that will have only a modest effect on the chamber's gridlock."
The editorial continued:
A group of Democratic senators - led by Tom Udall of New Mexico and Jeff Merkley of Oregon - came up with a reasonable proposal to reduce this practice [requiring a 60 votes for most Senate action] while preserving the minority's right to wage a fight. It would require 10 senators to start a filibuster and then speak continuously on the floor to keep it going. If an issue is important enough to block, then senators should be willing to work for it and explain themselves to the public.
An array of public-interest groups had also urged the Senate to adopt the reforms advanced by Sens. Harkin, Udall and Merkley.
ACS Executive Director Caroline Fredrickson noted the increasing delays in confirming judicial selections in urging the Senate to pass comprehensive rules reform.
"Our nation cannot afford the continuing delay and obstruction of votes on judges and other nominees critical to running our government that has plagued the Senate," Fredrickson said in a statement issued by Fix The Senate Now. "The token number of confirmations offered at the end of the recent lame duck session is less an accomplishment than evidence of how an effective government could be run. As the Chief Justice of the United States, and numerous other judges and public officials have noted, our nation depends on these positions being filled. If it requires Senate rules reform to help accomplish this and put an end to the shameless filibuster threats and anonymous holds that impede our government, then the Senate must take that on."
Communications Workers of America (CWA), in Jan. 26 statement, said the rules were abused during the 111th Senate. CWA continued, "Reforms that would help working men and women were never allowed to come up for debate on the Senate floor. The Employee Free Choice Act, the Fair Play Act, the Dream Act, and comprehensive climate legislation, among other measures, would have made real improvements in the lives of American families, but were never discussed by the Senate. There were more than 400 bills that passed the House of Representatives that never had a hearing on the Senate floor."
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