Michael Hiltzik: People talk about the cost of that big federal bill but don't know what's in it. So we'll tell you
The most glaring flaw in media coverage of Washington is that it focuses heavily on process and seldom on substance. That's certainly been the case with coverage of the Build Back Better Act, the comprehensive reform package now being dickered over on Capitol Hill.
If you're following the debate via the news, you probably have heard about the measure's overall price tag, most often placed at $3.5 trillion; the media aren't always careful to specify that that's the estimate of spending over 10 years.
You may also have read, in eye-glazing detail, about the negotiations taking place to reduce the costs, mostly among Democrats, and the numbingly technical debate over whether it can be passed by "reconciliation" or will be vulnerable to a GOP filibuster, etc., etc.
What you may not know as much about is what's actually in the act — in other words, what all that spending will pay for. That's important because thanks to the way Washington is covered, Americans tend to turn negative about big legislative measures, even though they're in favor of the individual provisions.
A CBS News/YouGov poll taken this month found that 57%
