air-dropping
n.β Β«Obey originally said House earmarks would be kept secret until they were inserted into the conference bill. By then, members cannot change them and can only vote up or down on the bill. Since the passage of earmarks is then all but a done deal, critics refer to it as βair-dropping.β…The βair-droppingβ plans elicited howls that Democrats were reverting to the same cloak-and-dagger process that typified the practices of Cunningham and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who once referred to earmark-laden appropriations bills as βfavor factories.βΒ» ββObey shines light on earmarking process, but GOPβΛlabels move a hollow gesture” by Mike Soraghan, Jackie Kucinich The Hill (Washington, D.C.) June 12, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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