Christmas tree bill

Christmas tree bill

In the US Congress, a minor bill that attracts many additional (and often unrelated) amendments attached to it, thus likened to ornaments hung upon a Christmas tree. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. If one really wants to see how corporate interests pervade the political process, one must simply examine the numerous amendments of the so-called Christmas tree bills that crop up each year.
See also: bill, Christmas, tree
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • bring (something) down on (one's) head
  • bring (something) down on (oneself)
  • bring down on
  • adorn (someone or something) with (something)
  • adorn with
  • flick (something) with (something)
  • flick with
  • be down for the count
  • blow with the wind
  • get (one's) rocks off on (something)
References in periodicals archive
Finally, at the close of each legislative session there is traditionally a "Christmas tree bill." It is a bill that spends money on the politician's chosen projects.
Legislature's early prison release program poorly crafted
Beyond that, the Bush administration's proposal reads more like one of those pork-laden Christmas tree bills of which Congress is so often fond.
Financial 'reform': an empty shell
Unlike Christmas tree bills, omnibus bills retain their focus on an issue such as education, but, instead of taking a piecemeal approach, they address the whole system, including such items as funding, level of expectations for students, discipline, licensure, and governance.
Stateline - Learning from the Experience of Others
This would prevent legislators from slipping open records or meetings changes into the so-called Christmas tree bills rushed into law at the end of legislative sessions.
The nation's first? Florida voters will get to decide whether or not to make the state's open meetings and records law a constitutional amendment