FAA bill's last chance?

‘Filling the Tree.’ That’s what they call it in the Senate when a floor manager or member of the leadership invokes a rule (Rule XV) that essentially lets him (or her) block amendments from coming to the floor to modify a bill under consideration. While some people object to this tactic, it may well be the only way a measure gets moved from debate to actual action and that is what may be needed when it comes to the FAA bill. The bill has languished in the Senate for months, even though the House passed its version in September; a move by Sen. Jay Rockefeller to bring it up last week was met with another kind of tree decoration, in which a bill is loaded up with amendments that not only bog it down but break its limbs. A pension amendment that would have forced major airlines into millions of dollars in extra payments was one, and it was finally defeated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, but other amendments, including one that punished any US company that moved offshore to avoid taxes, were also piled on.