Democrats push Biden to take forceful role in bridging party's sparring factions over agenda
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden spoke by phone last Tuesday and zeroed in on a strategy for their party's sweeping economic package, deciding that the time has come to wrap up negotiations, several senior officials in both places tell CNN -- a sign of Democrats' growing restiveness at a critical moment for their domestic agenda.
And for many Democrats in Congress, finalizing a deal now rests mainly on the shoulders of one man: Biden, whom lawmakers want to take a forceful public role in outlining what he wants to see in the final package. The increased focus on the President comes as worries are growing in both the West Wing and on Capitol Hill that dragging talks out into November could end in a stalemate and ultimately doom their prospects going into next year's midterm elections.
Not only that, they say, but it could deepen the sense among voters that Biden can't deliver on the core promise of his presidency -- that he would be able to get government to actually work.
"You don't want to get to a point," said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat running for his state's open Senate seat next year who's concerned about the political impact of an extended impasse, "where we look so indecisive that it can't be repaired with the package that's going to pass and start impacting people's lives."
Privately, Democrats are growing frustrated with Biden's approach.
"The reality right now is that a lot of people are saying, 'Where's Joe Biden? This is his agenda, why isn't he more involved in the negotiations?'" said one House Democrat, reflecting conversations going on among rank-and-file members.
Even as they lay most of the blame on moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for holding up a deal in the 50-50 Senate, a number of Hill Democrats want Biden to say explicitly what a potential compromise should look like, and start doing more to explain to voters what's at stake. At the moment, the defining legislation of his presidency seems completely lost in Beltway blabber about reconciliation and filibuster reform and numbers so big no one can wrap their heads around them.
Among those growing increasingly frustrated is Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has told Biden directly that while he feels sympathy for all the pressure Biden is under, the long process has subsumed any efforts to tout the popular items that they're trying to get passed, according to a person familiar with the matter.