In a fundraising visit to Kansas City on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden lambasted Republicans for voting against bills they once backed.

"It's not your father's Republican Party," Biden said.

Biden was in town to raise money for Sen. Claire McCaskill, who faces a tough re-election fight in Missouri this year, and Teresa Hensley, a Democrat running for Congress in the state's 4th District.

Tickets for the lunchtime gathering at the Northland home of Charles and Patty Garney sold for $500 and higher. The McCaskill camp declined to disclose how much money was raised.

"This is the first group of Republican congressmen who will not vote for things I know they are for," Biden said. They oppose bills "they know would help the economy along. ... They are voting against things they absolutely, specifically voted for in the past."

Biden only mentioned GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney a couple of times. He said Romney, like other Republicans, is a decent person who simply doesn't understand what it's like to be unemployed.

"The new Republican Party, they don't get it," Biden said. "They're not bad guys, but they don't get it."

Biden's wife, Jill, also was in the area. She spoke at Park University to a group of Missouri National Guard members and their families.

Republicans said they weren't surprised that President Barack Obama dispatched Biden to Missouri to raise funds.

"After all, McCaskill was one of the president's earliest and most vocal supporters, and she has been a reliable rubber-stamp vote for his job-killing liberal agenda," said Lloyd Smith, the Missouri GOP's executive director.