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Is Joe Biden less well-off than most of the political class in D.C.? That鈥檚 what the sitting vice president alleged on Monday morning while talking to the White House Summit on Working Families.

Mr. Biden wasn鈥檛 crying poverty 鈥� he said at the start that he is 鈥渞eally fortunate鈥� and that, as the No. 2 person in the US government, he makes a pretty good salary. Which he does. The VP gets $230,700 for his services. He and his professorial wife, Jill Biden, together had a taxable income of $407,009 in 2013, according to his聽tax filings, released by the White House.

He said he realized that this meant many people might question his ability to empathize with working people and their problems.

鈥淭he first thing you鈥檙e going to say is, 鈥楲ook at Biden, man. He鈥檚 got a mildly expensive suit on. He鈥檚 vice president of the United States of America,鈥� the veep told the family summit.

Then he went negative on himself. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 own a single stock or bond," said Biden, adding that 鈥淚 have no savings account."

When he first entered the Senate, he was a single father, Biden recounted. (His wife had been killed and sons injured in a tragic auto accident, which he did not mention.) He commuted back to Delaware every day to be with his boys, one of them in a full body cast.

鈥淚鈥檓 no different than any one of you, for real,鈥� said Biden to the conference audience.

Biden鈥檚 talk about what he judged his modest circumstances comes at a time when ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 rival for the presidential nomination, has lit a controversy about relative wealth with less-than-adroit comments about her own family finances.

So maybe Biden was taking a subtle jab at Clinton by highlighting that he鈥檚 got a lot less in the bank than she does. Hillary got an advance of $14 million or so for her latest book. Biden鈥檚 2007 book, 鈥淧romises to Keep,鈥� netted him much, much less than that.

But to some extent Biden was telling the truth. When it comes to those who walk the halls of US power, he鈥檚 on the low end of the income scale.

鈥淏iden鈥檚 point is well taken,鈥� .

As Mr. Miller points out, Biden did exaggerate his situation a bit. He鈥檚 got stocks and bonds indirectly, through a small mutual fund investment held by his wife. She鈥檚 got a savings account, too, with a value of between $1,000 and $15,000, according to financial disclosure forms.

The Bidens鈥� net worth, though, is in the red. Due largely to some outstanding mortgage debt, the figure here is between negative $336,804 and negative $2.3 million, at The Washington Post.

The Obamas, in contrast, have a net worth of $7 million. More to the point, the average member of Congress is now a millionaire.

In January, the Center for Responsive Politics published a comprehensive analysis of the finances of Senate and House members. The average member of Congress, they found, .

For representatives, the average was about $900,000. For senators, it was close to $3 million.

Members of Congress have long been far wealthier than average Americans, but their growing wealth represents a 鈥渨atershed moment鈥� at a time when many workers are still struggling to replace losses from the Great Recession, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.