'Certainly not my intent.' Aiming to preserve a fragile bipartisan deal on infrastructure, President Joe Biden said he didn’t mean to suggest he would veto the bill unless Congress also passed a larger package to expand the social safety net.
Speaking on Thursday moments after fulfilling his hopes of reaching a bipartisan accord, Biden appeared to put the deal in jeopardy with his comment that the infrastructure bill would have to move in “tandem” with a larger bill that he and Democrats aim to pass along party lines.
“I intend to pursue the passage of that plan, which Democrats and Republicans agreed to on Thursday, with vigor,” Biden added. “It would be good for the economy, good for our country, good for our people. I fully stand behind it without reservation or hesitation.” “My hope is that we’ll still get this done,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “Our infrastructure is in bad shape.”
The two measures were always expected to move together through Congress: the bipartisan plan and a second bill that would advance under special rules allowing for passage solely with majority Democrats votes. Biden reiterated that was his plan on Saturday, but said he was not conditioning one on the other.
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