Vice-president-elect Joe Biden likened the country’s
economic crisis to the attacks of 9/11 Monday in a private
meeting on Capitol Hill.
“We’re at war,” Biden told congressional
leaders of both parties during their sit-down with Barack
Obama in the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with
the exchange.
It’s not the first time the vice-president-elect has
used stark language to underscore the perilous state of the
economy. In an interview last month on ABC’s “This
Week,” Biden said that a stimulus package was needed
to keep the economy from “absolutely tanking.”
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Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said Biden “was
speaking of how after September 11th, that the Congress came
together and worked together for the sake of the country,
that the Congress worked day and night to accomplish what
was necessary. We did it then and we can do it now.”
Biden’s grim warning came as Obama began a public push
for quick passage of a massive economic growth package in
meetings with congressional leaders and his economic team.
