Inside Politics

VICE PRESIDENT

Biden pitches bill, time ‘to step up’

Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Saturday continued to press Congress to pass the Obama administration’s nearly $450 billion jobs bill.

Filling in for President Obama in the weekly White House radio and Internet address, Mr. Biden asked listeners to tell Republican lawmakers “to step up” and approve the legislation.

“Tell them to stop worrying about their jobs and start worrying about yours, because we’re all in this together, and together is the way we’re going to bring America back even stronger than it was before,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Obama, who returned to Washington late Friday after attending an international economic summit in France, made a similar appeal in last week’s address.

Mr. Biden said as opposition from Republicans continues a piece of the larger jobs bill was blocked last week the president has used his executive authority to help veterans find jobs, homeowners refinance mortgages and reduce the cost of student loans.

The vice president said those efforts would continue so long as Republican oppose the president’s jobs bills.

“If the Republican Congress won’t join us, we’re going to continue to act on our own to make the changes that we can to bring relief to middle-class families and those aspiring to get in the middle class,” Mr. Biden said.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports