Making laws
amendment tree
The fixed set of amendment slots available to a pending Senate bill. Filling every slot, which only the leader can do, blocks anyone else from offering amendments.
In full
Senate precedent allows only so many amendments pending at once, arranged in a branching structure. Because the majority leader holds the right of first recognition, they can offer amendments in every available slot, called filling the tree, which shuts out the minority entirely and usually forces the fight onto cloture instead. It is one of the clearest cases of procedure doing the work of substance.
Also written as: filling the tree
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.