Biden: I'm The Guy In The "Mildly Expensive Suit" With No Savings Account

The vice president touts his financial status.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden talked up his relative poverty at a White House summit Monday focused on exploring the financial and other difficulties faced by working families.

"You know, you're going to get to discuss all of these things today and more," Biden said, "but if you excuse, as we used to say in the Senate a point of personal privilege, I can speak a little bit from my own experience."

The vice president went on to talk about the "mildly expensive suit" he was wearing and the fact that "I have no savings accounts" and "I don't own a single stock or bond."

"But I got a great pension and I got a good salary," Biden added.

When he joined the Obama ticket in 2008, Biden was the poorest senator (though, as Politifact reported at the time, poorest senator is still far wealthier than the average American.) In this year's White House financial disclosure, Biden listed assets "valued at $276,000 to $940,000, including a rental property owned jointly with his wife, Jill," according to USA Today. President Obama's assets were "valued at about $2 million to $7 million."

As TIME's Zeke Miller notes, Biden does actually have a savings account, though it contains less than $15,000.

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