Vice President Biden Calls Gingrich Food Stamp Charge 'Ridiculous'

Vice President Joe Biden defended President Barack Obama's State of the Union message calling for greater economic fairness, calling statements by Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich accusing Obama of promoting food stamps "ridiculous."

Following President Obama's State of the Union address last night, in which he called for greater economic fairness on taxes between the wealthy and middle class, Gingrich released a statement saying, "He will always prefer a food stamp economy to a paycheck economy and call it fair."

"It's hard to respond to Newt with those kind of ridiculous statements," Vice President Biden told me on "GMA." "Do they really think that President Barack Obama wants to put everyone on food stamps? … There must be some base they're trying to appeal to. I don't know."

"We have a different priority set than Newt Gingrich apparently, and that our Republican colleagues have," Biden added.

Vice President Biden also pushed initiatives promoted by Obama in his address, including incentives for businesses to return to the U.S. from overseas and calling for extending middle class tax cuts, which he said "should be done now, should be done immediately."

And he expressed optimism that Congress is "going to get a lot more done" in the coming year, even during an election year, while following the President's call for more executive authority to pass measures on his own.

"The American public is sick and tired," Biden said. "It's one thing to have a do-nothing Congress, it's another to have a stop everything Congress."