There have been some tense moments during today's health care summit at the Blair House, but not for Vice President Joe Biden, it seems.

Just moments before the afternoon session got underway, C-SPAN's cameras picked up audio of Biden chatting casually with participants.

"It's easy being vice president — you don't have to do anything."

Whomever Biden was chatting with said, "It's like being the grandpa and not the parent."

"Yeah, that's it!" replied Biden.

Biden spokesman Jay Carney tells POLITICO that the vice president was "obviously joking, as any review of his schedule and responsibilities would make abundantly clear."

“In the last month, the vice president has, among many other things, made his fourth trip to Iraq since being elected, delivered a major speech on the administration’s non-proliferation agenda, produced a report on the Recovery Act’s first year to the president and played a key role in bringing about the president’s bi-partisan Fiscal Commission,” Carney said. “In the coming days and weeks, the vice president will deliver a first-year report from the Middle Class Task Force, which he chairs, and travel to the Middle East to meet with key leaders in the region.”