Lindsey Graham said Joe Biden made Republicans like look 'f***ing idiots' as GOP outraged ensues after the president tied the bipartisan infrastructure deal to passing his American Families Plan.
'Most Republicans could not have known that. There's no way,' Graham told Politico. 'You look like a f***ing idiot now.'
'I don't mind bipartisanship, but I'm not going to do a suicide mission,' the South Carolina senator added.
Biden said Thursday of the bipartisan infrastructure bill: 'If this is the only thing that comes to me, I'm not signing it.'
Graham was one of the 11 Republicans who supported the bipartisan infrastructure deal – but he is now backing out.
Most of that group met virtually Friday morning to plot next moves.
'There was general displeasure and anger,' said a senior GOP aide who listened in, noting Graham was relatively quiet on the call.
Lindsey Graham said Joe Biden has made Republicans look like 'f***ing idiots' by reaching a bipartisan deal on infrastructure and then publicly tying it to whether his American Families Plan is passed in the Senate
A group of 10 bipartisan lawmakers lined up behind Biden on Thursday to announce they reached a deal on an infrastructure bill. But shortly after, Republicans were infuriated when Biden said: 'If this is the only thing that comes to me, I'm not signing it'
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not repeat that threat, but also doubled-down that the two were reliant on each other
Another aide to one of the 11 senators told Politico: 'Demanding that we didn't pass the bipartisan deal unless reconciliation was passed first was never part of the deal.'
On the call Senators Mitt Romney, Rob Portman and Susan Collins were particularly enraged over Biden's flip.
The group plans to speak again this afternoon and is considering releasing a joint statement emphasizing 'there were no side deals.'
The White House doubled-down on Friday that Biden will not sign the infrastructure bill unless a $3-6 trillion reconciliation bill passes first for the left's 'family infrastructure' and climate initiatives.
'No deal by extortion!' Graham tweeted Friday morning, adding that the double-sell is a 'deal breaker'.
'It was never suggested to me during these negotiations that President Biden was holding hostage the bipartisan infrastructure proposal unless a liberal reconciliation package was also passed,' he continued in a thread on the issue.
'I can't imagine any other Republican had that impression,' Graham tweeted. 'I can't believe the Biden Administration expects such an obvious bait and switch tactic – motivated by fear of the Left – to work in the Senate and be respected by the American people.'
'Between fear of the Left and general incompetence, the last six months of the Biden Administration have been a disaster,' he added.
Senator Bill Cassidy, one of the five Republicans who stood behind Biden when he announced the deal on Thursday, told Politico he felt 'blindsided' by the all-or-nothing approach by the White House.
Reporters surround Biden and a bipartisan group of 10 senators at the White House Thursday. Senators Mitt Romney, Rob Portman and Susan Collins specifically expressed ire over Biden typing the infrastructure bill to a massive reconciliation package for his leftist plans
Portman made it clear linking the two pieces of legislation was never part of their deal with the White House.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not explicitly retract Biden's comments during her briefing Friday in a readout of a call between Biden and centrist Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema.
She did not go as far, however, as to reissue Biden's threat not to sign the bill without reconciliation.
Asked at the briefing if infrastructure is 'stuck in a pothole,' Psaki said: 'Absolutely not.'
Senator Jerry Moran, another Republican member of the group, wants assurances from centrist Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to make sure they are still on board with only supporting a bipartisan deal.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that any bipartisan deal in Washington is inherently racist as she pointed out all lawmakers who reached the infrastructure compromise Thursday with President Joe Biden are white.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested Thursday that all bipartisan deals in Washington, D.C. are inherently racist. AOC speaks before a Senate committee on June 23
'The diversity of this 'bipartisan coalition' pretty perfectly conveys which communities get centered and which get left behind when leaders prioritize bipartisan dealmaking over inclusive lawmaking (which prioritizes delivering the most impact possible for the most people),' the New York progressive congresswoman tweeted Thursday.
She included a picture of the bipartisan group at the White House when they announced the deal. The group included the president, Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner and Jon Tester and Republican Senators Rob Portman, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski.
Fellow progressive 'squad member' Rashida Tlaib tweeted Thursday that senators are more worried about the process of legislation than getting results.
'They 'love the process more than the outcome' is an accurate description,' she wrote.
'The diversity of this 'bipartisan coalition' pretty perfectly conveys which communities get centered and which get left behind,' AOC tweeted along with an image of President Joe Biden with the bipartisan group of lawmakers, who are all white
She said bipartisan packages usually exclude minority communities. 'That's how you get GOP on board,' she insisted
Representative Ilhan Omar, another member of the 'squad', however, appears to agree with the step forward.
'Communicating this unified plan clearly to the Senate allows us to focus on the details of the bills without fighting over strategy,' she wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez continued in her own Twitter thread: 'This is why a bipartisan pkg alone isn't acceptable.'
'The exclusion & denial of our communities is what DC bipartisan deals require,' she added. 'That's how you get GOP on board : don't do much/any for the working class & low income,or women, or poc communities, or unions,etc.'
She implored: 'We must do more.'
Biden stepped out on the White House driveway Thursday afternoon with the bipartisan group of lawmakers to announce 'we have a deal' on an infrastructure package.
'We had a really good meeting and to answer your direct question, we have a deal,' the president told reporters. 'I think it's really important, we've all agreed that, none of us got all what we wanted, I clearly didn't get all I wanted, they gave more than I think maybe they were inclined to give in the first place.'
Fellow progressive 'squad' member Rashida Tlaib tweeted Thursday that senators 'love the process more than the outcome' when it comes to legislation
Other 'squad; member Ilhan Omar, however, appeared on board because it 'allows us to focus on the details of the bills without fighting over strategy'
Biden stepped out of the White House Thursday afternoon with a group of 10 senators – five Democrat and five Republican – to announce 'we have a deal' on an infrastructure package
Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that all members of the bipartisan group who reached the deal are white, and suggested that inherently makes the infrastructure deal racist in nature and exclusionary of minority communities.
'[F]olks can sometimes come across as careless when saying
