President Barack Obama is set to reveal his jobs and debt plan after Labor Day — and Biden's remarks are the first on-the-record by an administration official to indicate that Obama will push for a broad-based plan to tackle the lingering economic crisis and the growing federal debt.

Also asked about the recently announced leadership change at Standard & Poor's, Biden said his "instinct" was that the change was in response to criticism from disgruntled businesses, though according to Reuters, "he made clear that he did not know the agency's internal workings."