Romney, other Senate Republicans say they trust Biden after infrastructure deal walkback

Biden walked back comments he made where he said he wouldn't sign the infrastructure deal.

Published: June 28, 2021 12:38pm

Updated: June 28, 2021 4:26pm

At least two Senate Republicans have publicly said they trust President Joe Biden about him making good on the bipartisan infrastructure deal he struck last week – after he first indicate he would nix the deal unless it was matched with a larger companion measure, then saying this weekend that he'd support the original plan. 

"I was very glad to see the president clarify his remarks because it was inconsistent with everything that we had been told all along the way," Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman, a top negotiator in the deal, on Sunday told ABC News

Biden suggested almost immediately after agreeing Friday to the $1.2 trillion deal that he ultimately wouldn't sign it unless he was present with a second one that included spending priorities from his party's progressive wing – including money to families, addressing climate change and changes to the tax code. The package is estimated to cost $2 trillion to $5 trillion. 

The second package, which is expected to be passed through a parliamentary tactic know as budget reconciliation, requires just 51 votes for passage. 

Biden's statement after a photo op outside the White House with members of the bipartisan Senate group left many Washington Republicans feeling dumfounded and duped for having agreed to a deal about which they only knew half. 

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham compared Biden's announcement about the second package to "extortion."

Utah GOP Sen Mitt Romney said Sunday on CNN that Biden had later "made very clear in the much larger statement that came out over the weekend … carefully crafted and thought through piece by piece, as that if the infrastructure bill reaches his desk, and it comes alone, he will sign it ."

"I do trust the president," he also said.

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