(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday reiterated calls for his own party to move hastily on his legislative agenda following a punishing election night for Democrats.

“People want us to get things done,” Biden said when asked about former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s upset loss in the battleground. “They want us to get things done. And that’s why I’m continuing to push very hard for the Democratic Party to move along and pass my infrastructure bill and my Build Back Better bill.”

Democratic lawmakers appear to be feeling the pressure. On Wednesday, some said it was more urgent than ever to pass Biden’s legislative agenda, pointing to a lack of deliverables they say may have soured voters on Tuesday.

Democrats have been paralyzed on a path forward for Biden’s social spending plan and a separate massive bipartisan infrastructure bill for months. Senators say McAuliffe’s loss and the razor-thin margin in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race are voter responses to that inaction.

“Democrats let Terry down,” Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine said Wednesday. “If we had done the infrastructure and reconciliation bills in October that we will almost certainly do by the end of the month, it would have been extremely helpful to him because it would have meant that Democrats are doers, Democrats deliver things that people care about in suburban communities.”

Democrats have struggled for months to find their way out of a complex political maze they set for themselves in the face of unified Republican opposition to Biden’s social spending agenda. Earlier this year, leadership tied a $1 trillion infrastructure package that includes funding for roads, bridges, waterways and broadband, to a separate social spending package that was yet to be drafted. They vowed one would not progress without the other.

The Senate passed the $1 trillion infrastructure package in August, but it is still negotiating over the social spending package. The House has not yet held a vote on either bill as a result. It may finally vote on both packages as early as this week — too late to impact Tuesday’s election results.

Inaction on the infrastructure package has left moderate Democrats who helped negotiate the bill, like Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, wringing their hands. Warner said both packages urgently need to be passed, but he noted that the infrastructure package could have provided McAuliffe a much-needed win.

“Only in Washington could people think that it is a smart strategy to take a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and prevent your president from signing that bill into law and that’s somehow a good strategy,” Warner said. “It’s not just about the substance of the bill, it’s about showing that you can govern in a way that affects people’s lives.”

Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has been demanding a House vote on the infrastructure bill for weeks. McAuliffe’s loss is just another sign that it’s time, Manchin said Wednesday.

“The House needs to really truly pass the infrastructure bill,” Manchin said. That’s something that’s proven. That’s what they really want.”

But Manchin is perhaps the most insurmountable obstacle in the Democratic quest to pass “Build Back Better” because of his opposition to several provisions in the president’s framework, including an expansion of Medicare and paid family leave.

Manchin reiterated Wednesday concerns about cost and inflation, the same point Republicans successfully used to campaign against Biden’s agenda. But Democrats Wednesday said their losses were about a lack of deliverables, not a rejection of the overall plan.

Asked whether voters were pushing back on progressive policies, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said he didn’t believe so.

When it’s finally done, Durbin said he believes “America will receive it, I think, in a positive way.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., diagnosed Tuesday’s losses as “failure to deliver.”

“Congress has to deliver,” Blumenthal said. “The window is closing. We have no more time. We need to get it done.”

Democrats fear that unless they can make significant movement on Biden’s policy, the Virginia race could prove to be a bellwether for the 2022 midterms.

“I’m worried not just in Virginia, I’m worried across the country,” Warner said Wednesday. “We’ve got to show that we can deliver in a pragmatic way that affects people’s lives.”

“There’s no time left,” Durbin said. “This warning to us came early enough for us to do something about it, and now we have to respond.”

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(WASHINGTON) — As House Democrats on Wednesday surprisingly moved to add paid family leave back into the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate policy bill — word came that none other than Meghan Markle was lobbying senators on the issue — personally.

In what might show that she’s clued into congressional politics, she didn’t go after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin — who doesn’t support including family leave in the spending bill — but made calls to Republicans, trying to get their votes instead.

Markle, the mother of two young children, including a daughter born in June, phoned Manchin’s West Virginia colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who said she first thought it was Manchin, because the caller ID was blocked, in a story first reported by Politico.

“I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says ‘caller ID blocked’,” the senator recounted, details confirmed by her spokesman. “I thought it was Senator Manchin. His calls come in blocked. And she goes, ‘Senator Capito?’ I said, ‘Yes?’ She said, ‘This is Meghan, the duchess of Sussex.'”

Markle then called another, more moderate, Republican — Susan Collins of Maine — who was in the gym at the time and also thought it was Manchin on the phone, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The duchess once again pitched paid family leave, Collins said.

“Much to my surprise, she called me on my private line and she introduced herself as the duchess of Sussex, which is kind of ironic,” Collins added.

“I was happy to talk with her, but I’m more interested in what the people of Maine are telling me about it,” she said.

Last month, Markle, who now lives in the California with Prince Harry and their two children — Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor — posted a letter to Congress on the website PaidLeaveforAll.org advocating for paid family leave in the U.S.

“I’m not an elected official, and I’m not a politician. I am, like many, an engaged citizen and a parent. And because you and your congressional colleagues have a role in shaping family outcomes for generations to come, that’s why I’m writing to you at this deeply important time—as a mom—to advocate for paid leave,” Markle wrote.

In the letter, she describes how hard her family worked to provide for her growing up and how the pandemic has pushed millions of women out of the workforce.

“Over the past 20 months, the pandemic has exposed long-existing fault lines in our communities. At an alarming rate, millions of women dropped out of the workforce, staying home with their kids as schools and daycares were closed, and looking after loved ones full-time,” she wrote. “The working mom or parent is facing the conflict of being present or being paid. The sacrifice of either comes at a great cost.”

Markle acknowledged that she and her family in no way face the same challenges other families do when it comes to raising a family.

“Like any parents, we were overjoyed. Like many parents, we were overwhelmed,” Markle wrote, recalling the moment she brought home her newborn daughter. “Like fewer parents, we weren’t confronted with the harsh reality of either spending those first few critical months with our baby or going back to work. We knew we could take her home, and in that vital (and sacred) stage, devote any and everything to our kids and to our family. We knew that by doing so we wouldn’t have to make impossible choices about childcare, work, and medical care that so many have to make every single day.”

Markle noted that, unlike the U.S., most other nations already have paid leave policies for all workers.

“Many other countries have robust programs that give months of time for both parents (birth or adoptive) to be home with their child. The United States, in stark contrast, does not federally guarantee any person a single day of paid leave. And fewer than one in four workers has dedicated paid family leave through their employer. I’m sure you agree that if we are to continue to be exceptional, then we can’t be the exception.”

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.

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