Fill the tree

From dKosopedia

The term fill the tree, or filling the tree, is one used in the Senate to describe a procedure where the majority party to block amendments to a bill or resolution offered by the minority party, or to kill legislation by adding provisions unacceptable to a bill’s core supporters. This is a technique perfected by then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott back in the 1990s. Under Senate procedures, a bill may have only a finite number of amendments attached to it at one time. This is called the “amendment tree,” and the Senate’s manual of procedures has charts describing how many and what kind of amendments a particular bill might have. For example, a highway reauthorization bill would offer seven slots: six for amendments and one for a motion to send the bill back to a committee. Lott would fill them all up the moment he would bring the bill to the floor, allowing no one else (Democrats) a chance to hang anything on the bill.

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