It seems bizarre that financial policy would get decided in a bill to repair roads and bridges and mass transit, but that’s the whole point of the Christmas tree strategy: If a bill is deemed “must pass,” then adding ornaments to it comprises a good strategy for getting things into law that otherwise might not receive a vote.

Ryan touted this process as a positive example of new leadership. In recent years, House bills written in secret sped to the floor without the ability for alterations. But on the highway bill, over 80 amendments got a vote on the House floor, out of hundreds offered.

The shortfall forced Republicans to search for extra revenue to fully fund the bill. The Senate hit on a great idea: cutting $16.3 billion from a 102-year-old risk-free giveaway to banks.

Member banks, in exchange for access to the Federal Reserve’s payment services and borrowing facilities, must purchase stock in the regional Fed banks. That stock cannot lose value or be sold — and it carries a 6 percent dividend. The stock operates like a membership fee, only it’s not a fee: The member banks get all of their money back within 17 years and then start earning profit on it. Most of the dividends are exempt from taxes. And nationally chartered banks have to join the Fed by law anyway, while all banks must conform to the rules of membership, so offering a dividend to give them an incentive to join the Fed — the original purpose of the scheme — has no relevance today.