“You’ve got a lot of people doing a lot of heavy lifting here,” said freshman Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.). “I don’t know that we expected flowers and chocolates,” he said. But the president’s response “was an unwelcome message.”

In recent weeks, the president has expressed growing interest in the remaining items on his legislative agenda, including energy and immigration policy. Both are initiatives whose only hope at passage would require another legislative squeeze from the lawmakers who have already yielded to some of the president’s toughest requests.

Yet compromise appears difficult as lawmakers approach the midterm election when they, not the president, must fight for their political lives in a tough electoral climate.

“There’s no question we’ve taken on big policy issues,” said Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pa.). “Each time we reach a heavy lift we think, ‘How are we going to do more?’ We do.”