fill the tree
v. phr.— «“Fill the tree”—This is Lott’s technique. 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. Highway reauthorization offers seven slots: six for amendments and one for a motion to send the bill back to a committee. Lott filled them all up the moment he brought the bill to the floor, allowing no one else (Democrats) a chance to hang anything (campaign finance) on the tree.» —“In Translation…“ Washington Post Oct. 27, 1997. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means “Winter Street,” and in Hawaii, a term for the Milky Way...
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...