Conference committee

"It's a defect in the system," explains Dennis Kucinich. "When a bill goes into a conference committee, it gets yanked out of the sunlight and into the shadows. The conference process is a closed one, so you can go into a conference committee and basically add anything or take out anything you want and no one really knows. It transforms the legislature into a secret cabal." 

See also remarks made December 8, 2004, by Sen. Robert C. Byrd on the floor of the U.S. Senate regarding the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

Examples of Abuses

 * The Homeland and Lilly Protection Act