House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said last week that he fears the new congressional "supercommittee" tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts will take a big bite out of agriculture programs by the end of the year.

Peterson said congressional leaders have already asked the committees what could be cut, and said there is discussion of cutting more proportionally from agriculture than from other programs.

"The cuts that they’ve been talking about, they're talking three times as much as cuts in agriculture as they are in other areas, which I am not going to go along with,” Peterson said, as reported by The Iowa Independent.

Standard & Poor's laments the possibility cuts to entitlement programs won't materialize and the decreasing likelihood of new tax revenues.

Freshman Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) this week introduced legislation that would prevent members of Congress from keeping past campaign contributions for use in future elections, thus preventing the accumulation of campaign war chests that he said discourage many from running.

"The Competitive Elections Act would shut politicians' proverbial 'war chests' that today discourage and intimidate service-minded individuals who otherwise would run for Congress," Woodall said. "You should not have to be a self-funding millionaire to be competitive in a congressional election."

Tea Party star Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) weighed in on Friday's positive jobs report, focusing on the persistent unemployment numbers and blaming President Obama for chasing tax hikes over job growth.

"All year, President Obama and Senate Democrat leaders have wasted time calling for tax increases rather than pursuing pro-growth tax and regulatory reform that will help create private-sector jobs," said Rubio, according to Sunshine State News. 

House Financial Services Committee ranking member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Friday called on President Obama to clarify the administration's position on whether future spending cuts should come only from mandatory spending accounts, not from the Defense Department.

Frank's Aug. 5 letter to Obama was a response to comments from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who on Thursday warned against going past the $400 billion in cuts already expected under the debt-ceiling deal. Press reports say Panetta argued that Congress should cut mandatory spending, such as social services, instead of defense spending, and also look to increase federal revenues.

Labor’s top statistician said it will take years to recover the millions of jobs lost in the recession.

Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Vice Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said Friday that today's jobs report shows it's time to "pull the plug" on President Obama's "failed economic experiment," and start dismantling Washington regulations that he said are the real obstacle to job growth.

"Mr. President, America is fair," Brady said in his prepared opening statement at Friday's JEC hearing on the July employment numbers. "It has been patient, more than patient. But after two and a half years, enough is enough. You've tried and failed to revive this economy."

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on Thursday said he does not want to give away his responsibility to work on the federal budget to a new “supercommittee” established by the debt deal to make further cuts to government spending.

“I’m not prepared to give that responsibility or the authority to 12 of my colleagues, even though I may respect them or admire them,” Nelson said Thursday, according to KCAU-TV of Sioux City, Iowa. “It’s my responsibility and I’m not going to cede that away.”

His resignation letter was read on the House floor Friday, marking an end to his tenure in Congress.