President Joe Biden issued a clarification on his statement that he would not sign the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan his administration helped negotiate with a group of ten Senators if Congress did not pass the reconciliation bill for the American Families Plan.

“In the days since, the primary focus in Washington has not been about the Plan’s scope, scale or provisions—but rather, how it relates to other legislation before Congress: my American Families Plan,” Biden said in a statement from the White House.  “The American Families Plan—which would make historic investments in education, health care, child care, and tax cuts for families, coupled with other investments in care for our seniors, housing, and clean energy—has broad support with the American people, but not among Republicans in Congress.”

On Thursday, as they announced the bipartisan infrastructure deal, Biden said he would refuse to sign the infrastructure bill if it was not accompanied by the reconciliation bill, that requires only Democratic support in the Senate to pass.

“At a press conference after announcing the bipartisan agreement, I indicated that I would refuse to sign the infrastructure bill if it was sent to me without my Families Plan and other priorities, including clean energy,” the statement says.  “That statement understandably upset some Republicans, who do not see the two plans as linked; they are hoping to defeat my Families Plan—and do not want their support for the infrastructure plan to be seen as aiding passage of the Families Plan. My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.

“So to be clear: our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem. We will let the American people—and the Congress—decide.”