President Joe Biden’s reversal over the weekend on a threat to block bipartisan infrastructure legislation unless it arrives on his desk alongside a massive spending package is the latest example of an administration that has proven susceptible to outside pressure.

Biden’s backtrack came in a rare Saturday statement, in which he claimed his remarks about infrastructure days earlier had been misunderstood. The president said Thursday that he would not support a bipartisan infrastructure bill, which emerged from negotiations that he endorsed, without a partisan spending bill arriving on his desk “in tandem.”