JUST KIDDING

Biden Backtracks, Insists He Wasn’t Threatening to Veto Infrastructure Bill

The president clarified comments this week that had frustrated some Republicans who felt he had double-crossed them.

President Joe Biden issued a statement on Saturday walking back previous statements on his infrastructure plan and saying he would sign the bipartisan bill even if it was not coupled with another, larger plan he hoped to pass through Congress. Biden upset some Republicans this week when he indicated he would veto the historic $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan if the Senate did not also pass his sweeping American Families Plan—a bill that has earned significantly less bipartisan support. GOP senators like Lindsey Graham said they felt deceived into supporting the bill, which they had not known would come with strings attached.

But Biden backtracked in a statement Saturday, saying that threatening to veto the bill was “certainly not my intent.” “I gave my word to support the Infrastructure Plan, and that’s what I intend to do,” he said. “I intend to pursue the passage of that plan, which Democrats and Republicans agreed to on Thursday, with vigor.”