U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says he couldn't call this week's passage of tax legislation a "big deal," but not because he didn't think it was important.

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"I can no longer say 'big deal,'" said Biden, who was caught on an open mike last spring adding an expletive when he described passage of President Obama's healthcare reform bill as a "big deal."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a ... I wasn't going say, 'a big deal,' but 'an important deal,'" Biden said Friday during his introduction of the president.

USA Today said the White House press corps hasn't let Biden forget his new catch phrase. One reporter Friday asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, "How big a deal will the vice president say it is?"

Gibbs replied, "It will be big."