Republican Senators Will Move Forward On Infrastructure Deal After Biden Veto Threat

U.S. Republican Senate negotiators have welcomed President Joe Biden's withdrawal of his threat to veto a $1.2-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. 

On Saturday, Biden issued a statement saying it "was certainly not my intent" to create the impression he was threatening to veto "the very plan I had just agreed to."

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, said he's "very glad to see the president clarify his remarks because it was inconsistent with everything that we had been told all along the way," he said in an interview with ABC on Sunday.

"It was a surprise, to say the least, that those two got linked," Portman said.

On Thursday, Biden presented the agreement on new infrastructure spending. After announcing it, Biden made a statement that the infrastructure bill would have to move "in tandem" with a larger bill that includes a host of Democratic priorities that he hopes to pass along party lines.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he's "totally confident" Biden would sign the bipartisan bill if it reaches his desk without a separate Democratic spending plan.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, said he hoped lawmakers could move beyond the controversy stirred by Biden's remarks on Thursday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the House wouldn't pass the infrastructure plan without the multitrillion follow-on tax and social spending package.

Republican and Democratic senators have held talks on an infrastructure plan that would spend $973 billion over five years, with $579 billion of that funding above expected baseline levels.

As per the draft outline of the proposal, the plan would dedicate $110 billion for bridges and roads, $65 billion to access broadband and $48.5 billion to public transit.

Extended over an eight-year timeline, the plan would spend a total of $1.2 trillion.