Trent Parke / Magnum
When my father’s heart stopped, I had no choice but to keep moving. He had lived alone, and I understood that managing the logistics of his death—planning his funeral, settling his debts, divvying up his belongings—would be an enormous task. Those looming practical matters infuriated me; I hated that my world-shattering news had not, in fact, shattered the world. It kept spinning along, so I did too.

A faint but discernible note of alarm has been slipping into Democrats’ chatter about the 2022 and 2024 elections. President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have slumped to their lowest levels since his inauguration. His governing coalition is splintering over the Haitian migrant crisis. Many Democrats view the legislation moving through Congress this week as a defining test of whether they can marshal their congressional majority and pass something that most Americans want.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our coverage of The Atlantic Festival. Learn more and watch festival sessions here. Nancy Pelosi is juggling a series of looming deadlines. House Democrats must avoid a government shutdown and federal default, and they need to reach a consensus on advancing President Biden’s agenda through two different bills.

Updated at 7:55 p.m. on September 29, 2021.A year after the United States to actually do the job.[Read: The coronavirus is here forever. This is how we live with it. ]“Nobody should read that plan as the limit of what needs to be done,” Eric Lander, the president’s science adviser, told me.