If every element of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill were overwhelmingly popular, then Democrats would be spending time talking about every element in the plan. They’re not. Why?

Instead, Democratic leaders have spent the last ten days telling themselves and the public that the plan costs zero dollars. That’s not what you do when you are confident that the things you are about to purchase are overwhelmingly popular. In this they compare unfavorably to the gutless husbands who try to explain that their luxury-watch and sports-car purchases are about resale value and constitute an investment. Telling us that the Build Back Better plan costs zero dollars is basically begging people to consider it too unimportant to look into it.

It is the strangest thing. This bill was billed as the legislation that would make Joe Biden the most consequential Democratic president since FDR.

Democrats vowed to “save democracy” from the evils of Trump and the Republicans. And yet, there’s been no real debate over the purposes of this bill, except over the price tag.