From New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro. This is Adali.

Today, when Democrats first set out to expand the social safety net,

they envisioned a piece of legislation as transformational as what the party had achieved in the 1960s

and hoped that in the process they'd win back the working-class voters the party had since lost.

But now that they're on the brink of reaching a deal,

the question is whether the enormous cuts and compromises they've made

will make it impossible to accomplish either.

I spoke to my colleague, Congressional reporter Jonathan Weissman.

It's Tuesday, October 26th.

Jonathan, as this bill was originally conceived,

it was a $6 trillion act of social spending that would have been the most significant expansion

of the country's social safety net since President Lyndon Johnson's great society in the 1960s.

And I know that you're a student of American history.

So, remind us of the context in which that monumental act of spending occurred and what it was all about.

Well, some of the context actually might sound familiar.

Then, as now, tax cuts had just been passed that largely accrued to the benefit of the rich

and the economy was growing really well writ large.

In fact, when Lyndon Johnson took over the presidency,

the US economy had just grown by 10%.

That is a huge burst of growth.

And right now, we're also seeing an economy in recovery.

And then, as now, what the president was seeing was a society growing more and more unequal.

...