Analysis: Dems' test: Can government deliver -- and will it?

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden proposed a massive expansion of federal services for Americans this year, he laid out lofty stakes — not only for his own presidential legacy but far beyond.

The imperative, he said in an April address to Congress, is to show “that our government still works — and can deliver for the people.”

It was an apt pitch for the long-held Democratic vision of government as a force for good, and for the idea that Washington has an obligation to improve the lot of Americans held back.

But five months later, the capital is locked in an intra-party showdown over the president’s agenda that underscores the larger question of whether Democrats can keep their pledge to make government make things better for people.

“For the last few decades, the country has seen that government struggled to deliver in a way that affects their lives,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson, who advises groups that support pieces of Biden’s agenda. “We have to show that there is a role for government in delivering for people who are working for a living.”

This is the bedrock question as Democrats struggle to come together behind a $1.5 trillion to $3.5 trillion package that would raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and use that money to expand government health care, education and climate change initiatives. The debate has also delayed action on a $1 trillion public works bill that has stood to be one of the rare bright spots of bipartisanship in Washington.

White House officials contended Friday that the disparate Democratic coalition — which holds the slimmest of majorities in Congress — was closer than ever to reaching a deal, after successive rounds of closed-door talks and public pronouncements from lawmakers. And they argue the American...