Biden: 'Refuse to take no for an answer'

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday administration will not "take no for an answer" from congressional Republicans on jobs legislation.

Delivering the weekly radio and Internet address in place of President Barack Obama -- who was returning to the United States from a Group of 20 summit in France -- Biden criticized Senate Republicans for blocking administration bills intended to expand hiring, including the American Jobs Act.

In remarks recorded Friday at the University of Pittsburgh, Biden said Friday's Labor Department report that the economy added 104,000 private sector jobs in October represented 20 consecutive months of job growth in the sector but he said "that's not nearly enough."

"We have to increase the pace," he said. "We have to act now to do everything in our power to keep this economy moving and to grow jobs."

Biden said independent analysts have concluded the American Jobs Act "would create 2 million new jobs."

"Although 51 senators voted for that jobs bill, our Republican colleagues in the Senate used a procedural requirement that requires it to have 60 votes, so it failed," he said.

Biden repeated a theme Obama has struck frequently in recent weeks, saying "we can't wait for the Congress to start acting responsibly."

He listed several steps Obama has taken on home mortgage refinancing, student loan payments and prescription drug pricing.

"And there's more to come," he said.

"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," Biden said

"We refuse to take no for an answer," he said. "We know these steps taken alone are not going to solve all of our problems, but they will make a difference in the lives of millions of American families struggling to hold on."