Biden gets fed up during spending talks

Vice President Joe Biden got visibly upset during late night White House talks on avoiding a government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters
Friday morning that Biden doesn’t get upset very often, but that he did after hours of
negotiations with Republicans at the White House.

“Vice President Biden, who sat very silent through this whole
meeting, finally said — and Joe doesn’t get upset very often and he usually
doesn’t speak for short segments — but last night he said: ‘Well fine, let the
American people decide this issue,’ ” Reid told reporters.

{mosads}Obama tapped Biden last month to lead negotiations over
spending cuts for the rest of fiscal 2011. Biden is working with White House chief of
staff Bill Daley and Budget Director Jack Lew to represent the administration
in talks with congressional leaders.

The government would shut down at midnight Friday if Congress does not agree to extend funding.