“As vice president, Joe Biden was among those repeatedly pushing President Barack Obama to negotiate with Republicans on everything from health care to fiscal crises – even if it led to delays, watered-down policies or nothing at all. But these days, Biden and his team, many of whom worked in the Obama administration, are taking a different approach: Talking to Republicans, yes, but doing so with more skepticism and firmer deadlines, according to six current and former Biden advisers and lawmakers. ‘The lesson that this team learned, beginning with President Biden, from that experience is that there is a cost to waiting too long,’ said Jay Carney, who worked for Biden before becoming Obama White House press secretary, and is now an executive at Amazon. ‘I think everyone is much more realistic about whether bipartisan cooperation is possible.'”

“Biden, the aides and lawmakers say, believes action is more important than bipartisanship, and is convinced Americans will support him in his efforts. He recognizes that his window for this approach may close by the midterm elections. That’s why, the aides and lawmakers say, he may be willing to give up the reputation, cultivated over decades, as a dealmaking lawmaker if he can be a transformative president who pushes through a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and social programs. The president will talk with Republicans about his new pair of proposed spending plans – a combined $4 trillion in spending designed to ignite economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic – but he is prepared to back a congressional maneuver that would allow Senate Democrats to pass legislation without GOP support, perhaps within weeks, aides and lawmakers familiar with his thinking say. ‘There are certainly some in the president’s inner circle who were part of the Obama team who say, ‘Look, we can’t just have this go on forever,’’ said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a longtime Biden friend who has occasionally encouraged Biden to take a bipartisan approach. ‘There has to be an outcome'” – Politico.