House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) admitted this morning that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had a moral point to their letter criticizing the House GOP Budget drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for its cuts to safety net programs valued by the poor saying, “Yes,” but he wished “they’d take a bigger look and the bigger look is if we don’t make decision these programs won’t exist.”

Yesterday the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent letters to various House Committees asking them to “resist” some of the trillions in dollars of cuts called for in the Ryan Budget. In a letter to the House Agriculture Committee the bishops said to members “resist for moral and human reasons unacceptable cuts to hunger and nutrition programs.” The letter continued “if savings need to be achieved, cuts to agricultural subsidies and direct payments should be considered before cutting anti-hunger programs that help feed poor and vulnerable people.”

When asked by NBC News about the letters, Boehner, a church-going Catholic, said America’s debt was what distressed him. “What's more of a concern to me is the fact that if we don't start to make some decisions about getting our fiscal house in order there won't be a safety net," he said. "There won't be these programs.”

Boehner, though, also acknowledged the importance of America’s social safety net, calling it "critically important."

“And so, when you look at the fact we have to make hard decisions, it's about trying to make sure that we're able to preserve these programs that are critically important for the poorest in our society," he said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wading into policy fights on Capitol Hill is nothing new. The group was steadfastly opposed to healthcare reform unless there was a guarantee that no taxpayer money could be involved in subsidizing abortion.

Earlier this year, the bishops actively opposed the Obama administration’s ruling that contraception should be covered in the insurance plans of religiously affiliated employers who may be opposed to such methods of birth control.

Catholic Democratic members have been critical of the bishops in the past for not focusing enough on another tenet of Catholic doctrine, the aiding of the poor. One House Democrat of the Catholic faith who asked not to be named, told NBC News, “I’m glad they’re finally being consistent lobbying for Catholic teaching.”

This morning, NBC News confirmed that Deputy Chief of Staff to Eric Cantor, Brad Dayspring, has resigned. Steve Stombres, Cantor's chief of staff released the following statement:

"Deputy Chief of Staff Brad Dayspring has resigned to pursue other opportunities. Brad will be missed and we wish Brad all the best luck in his future endeavors.  He was a valued employee and did an outstanding job defining and defending our Republican Majority." 

Late last night, rumors of Dayspring's departure began circulating around Capitol Hill. At this point, the circumstances surrounding his departure are unknown and sources close to the situation have been uncharacteristically tight lipped citing a respect for office privacy.

Dayspring, well known in Washington for his hard-charging and sometimes combative demeanor with the press, had achieved a reputation as a "ferocious pit bull," according to a GOP aide.

Deeply loyal to his former boss, perhaps more than anybody else, Dayspring had been involved in the cultivation of Cantor's political image as, an aide described, a "consistent conservative" over the last two-and-a-half years.

While Dayspring will leave the confines of his second floor office at the Capitol, he won't be straying too far from the Cantor operation, as he'll take a job with Cantor's Super PAC the "Young Gun Action Fund."

John Murray, the group's president and Cantor's former deputy chief of staff, wrote:

"It is with great enthusiasm that we're adding Brad Dayspring as a Senior Advisor to our team. When Young Guns was formed it was designed to help leaders like Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy chart a new course for the center-right movement and the House majority. Brad's years of work both on capitol hill and in the campaign world are a perfect blend to help take us to the next level."

Frank Thorp contributed to this report.

Joe Kennedy III, grandson of Robert Kennedy, announced today that he is leaving his job at the Middlesex District Attorney's office to start an exploratory committee for a possible run for Rep. Barney Frank's Massachusetts Congressional seat.

Frank announced his intention to retire in November after he finishes his 16th term in the seat, citing redistricting as the reason.

Here's Kennedy's full statement:

I am announcing today my intention to explore a candidacy for the United States Congress in the Fourth District of Massachusetts.

I look forward to reaching out to the residents of the Fourth District over the coming weeks, and I will look back on my work as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County - and before then, in Barnstable County - with great appreciation for the dedication of my colleagues and their commitment to equal justice under law.  I loved my work in the courts and will remember its lessons as I seek the counsel of the citizens of the Fourth District.

One lesson that will stick with me from my time in the courts is how hard police, prosecutors and judges work together to achieve fairness. Fairness, the foundation of America's social compact, seems to be in short supply these days. We wage war, pass skewed tax breaks, and expand benefits by spendthrift borrowing, saddling the next generation of Americans with unsustainable debt.

Then when it comes time to restoring fiscal sanity to our budget, we see the middle class and the poor take the hit while the wealthy get more tax breaks.
 
The lack of common sense and fairness in Washington is a byproduct of the partisan gridlock that has turned obstruction into victory. Americans are better than that. Each and every day, we work with people of different backgrounds and political views to achieve a common purpose. Washington can and should do the same.
 
My decision to look seriously at elected office is grounded in a deep commitment to public service and my experience - both my own and that of my family -- in finding just, practical, and bipartisan solutions to difficult challenges. It is a commitment instilled in me at a young age and one that inspired me to join the Peace Corps after college and to become a prosecutor after law school.
 
I have given my notice of resignation to the Middlesex District Attorney's office, and my work will wind down over the course of the next two weeks.  I will then begin to reach out to the people of the Fourth District in order to hear directly from them about the challenges they are facing and their ideas on how we can restore fairness to our system. I will make a final decision about entering the race in the weeks thereafter.
 
I look forward to this new challenge, and to meeting people across the district in the weeks ahead.

After days of silence, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is calling on the House GOP to pass the two-month payroll-tax-cut extension -- and for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) to appoint negotiators to work with the House on a long-term deal after that extension is passed.

"House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms," his statement says. "These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both."

House Speaker John Boehner's office had this response: "The House and Senate have two different bills, but the same goal," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. "That is why we believe, as Senator McConnell suggested, the two chambers should work to reconcile the two bills so that we can provide a full year of payroll tax relief -- and do it before year's end."

This morning, Boehner's office says he called President Obama to urge action on a one-year extension, but president Obama declined.

"Today, Speaker Boehner called President Obama to discuss the Speaker's desire to provide a full year of tax relief for American families before December 31st," a Boehner aide said in a written statement. "With Senator Reid having declined to call his Members back to Washington this week to join the House in negotiating a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut, the Speaker proposed that the President send members of his economic policy team up to Congress to find a way to accommodate the President's full-year request. The Speaker explained his concern that flaws in the Senate-passed bill will be unworkable for many small business job creators. He reiterated that if their shared goal is a one-year bill, there is no reason an agreement cannot be reached before year's end. The President declined the Speaker's offer."

A Democratic leadership aide said Senate Democrats are "happy" to begin negotiating with the House once Boehner says he'll hold a vote and pass the Senate two-month payroll-tax-cut extension. 

"We have been saying all along that if the House passes the Senate's compromise to ensure there is no tax hike on Jan. 1, we can immediately begin negotiating the full-year extension," the aide said. "It's important to now hear from the Speaker. As we have said, we are happy to start negotiating a full-year extension when the House passes the short-term compromise."

Here is McConnell's full statement:

"The House and Senate have both passed bipartisan bills to require the President to quickly make a decision on whether to support thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs through the Keystone XL pipeline, and to extend unemployment insurance, the temporary payroll tax cut and seniors' access to medical care. There is no reason why Congress and the President cannot accomplish all of these things before the end of the year.  House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms. These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both. Working Americans have suffered enough from the President's failed economic policies and shouldn't face the uncertainty of a New Year's Day tax hike. Leader Reid should appoint conferees on the long-term bill and the House should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of Keystone XL pipeline jobs, prevents any disruption in the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions."

House Speaker John Boehner (OH) said he was unsure of the impact on the economy if Congress doesn't extend unemployment insurance benefits and a payroll tax holiday on the agenda for lawmakers this month.

The Republican Speaker said that Republicans are interested in moving quickly on legislation to extend jobless benefits, which expired this week, along with a payroll tax cut supported by President Obama, which expires after Dec. 31.

But Boehner said he didn't know what would happen if Congress failed, a distinctly possible outcome given the gridlock that's plagued the House and Senate this year, especially on tax and spending issues.

"I'm not an economist, I don't know what impact it's going to have on the economy," he said in response to a question from NBC News at his weekly press conference. "It's just that I do believe there's enough common ground between where the White House and Democrats are and where Republicans are for us to move this legislation and to do so quickly."

Most economists believe failure to extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits would significantly hurt the economy. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics who's done work for both Democrats and Republicans, warned that failure to extend those benefits would make "real GDP growth will fall by nearly a percentage point and about one million jobs lost by the end of 2012."

Consensus may still elude Congress, too. Senate Democrats roundly rejected a proposal by their GOP counterparts on Wednesday that would have offset the cost of the extended payroll tax cut by cutting the federal workforce and freezing government employees' pay (while means-testing other benefits, like food stamps). Democrats favor a surtax on millionaires to finance an expanded payroll tax cut in 2012.

Boehner said moments later in the same press conference that he had little doubt that keeping payroll taxes lower would help the economy; the Speaker said his worry was how it would affect Social Security.

"I don't think there's any question that the pay roll tax relief in fact helps the economy. You're allowing more Americans, frankly every working American to keep more of their money in their pocket, that's a good thing," he said. "The concern that we've had is what does it to do the Social Security trust fund and that's why we believe protecting it is critically important."

As finger-pointing continues from the failure of the congressional “Super Committee” to strike a deal, one member of the panel said he sees a bright spot.

“One small, silver lining in this is we certainly identified many, many programs that have either outlived their usefulness or gotten bloated or are otherwise inappropriate,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). “So there are plenty of items to choose from and, while we couldn’t roll them into one big package and get a consensus and get that passed, maybe we can pass some of them individually.”

Speaking with NBC’s Luke Russert on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” Toomey repeatedly dismissed the idea that more tax revenue is needed to fix the country’s fiscal future.

“We have a spending problem,” the first-term senator said.

A former president of the conservative Club for Growth, which advocates for lower taxes and a simpler tax structure, Toomey had floated a plan among his panel colleagues to increase revenue by $250 billion over the next decade.

Critics said Toomey’s plan wouldn’t put much of a dent in the nearly $15 trillion national debt.

“I don’t think we should be damaging our economy with some job-crushing tax increases,” Toomey said. “My colleagues on the other side think we should.”

Noted Tea Party favorite and combative freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) let his emotions get the best of him over the weekend when talking to some constituents at a bar in his district.

When asked about the U.S. banking meltdown, Walsh screamed, "Don't blame banks and don't blame the marketplace for the mess we are in right now, I'm tired of hearing that crap!"

He then told one man, "Be quiet or you're going to have to leave!"

The full video was posted by a liberal political blog called "Thump and Whip."

Walsh's D.C. office had no comment on the video.

In 19 days, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, i.e. “The Super Committee,” must report to Congress a plan to trim $1.2 trillion dollars off the United States’ national debt. Many members of Congress are nervous about whether the committee can reach their target goal on time.

“I think the mood is one of nervousness,” House Speaker John Boehner said yesterday, “I think there's pressure on both sides of the isle on the Super Committee and, frankly, on leadership on both sides of the isle in both chambers. We have to come to an agreement.”

While the Speaker may be anxious, the top Republican on the committee he assigned to the job is playing it cool.

“I haven't changed my position from Day One. I continue to approach this process with high hopes and tempered expectations,” said Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) when asked by NBC if he was nervous, “and I continue to have high hopes and tempered expectations.”

Hensarling also seemed to hint that some semblance of a bipartisan deal from the Super Committee could be announced soon.

“I just left a meeting with Sen. Murray,” (D-WA), his counterpart on the Super Committee. “We continue to negotiate. When we have something to announce you may not be the first people to hear it, but I assure you, you will hear something soon."

House Speaker John Boehner dismissed Grover Norquist as a "random" person on Thursday despite a week's worth of frequent references to the antitax activist on Capitol Hill.

The name of Norquist, the Americans for Tax Reform president, has been on the lips of just about every political figure who's expressed frustration at his influence over Republicans, and their unflinching resistance to tax hikes in any form.

The reason is Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," the manifesto Norquist first drafted in 1986 which opposes increases in taxes. Boehner and another 235 House members have signed the pledge, as have 41 senators. The vast majority of signatories are Republicans, and only six Republicans in each chamber haven't signed the pledge. (All of the GOP's presidential candidates but Jon Huntsman have also signed.)

But today, when asked by NBC News about Norquist's sway over the GOP conference, Boehner downplayed the relationship.

“We are doing everything we are doing to get our economy back to work. It's not often I'm asked about some random person in America," the Speaker said of Norquist.

NBC News: Random person?

"Our focus is about creating jobs, not talking about somebody's personality."

NBC News: What he stands for, is that a positive influence in your conference?

"What he stands for???"

NBC News: Yes, his no tax hikes under any circumstances pledge, is that positive for your conference?

"Listen, our conference is opposed to tax hikes because we believe tax hikes will hurt our economy and put Americans out of work."

Boehner’s reference to Norquist as a “random person” struck many on Capitol Hill as odd; privately, GOP aides will often discuss Norquist’s influence on GOP politics and admit its significance.

The test of Norquist's sway, though, will come in the next few weeks, when the bipartisan, bicameral supercommittee is set to make its recommendations as to how to achieve as much as $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Republican members of the panel are under pressure to agree to new revenues through tax reform, a prospect which Norquist has already decried.

Democrats and even some Republicans feel he has undue influence on deficit discussions because Republicans worry if they support any type of tax increase, Norquist’s group will attack them come election season.

Already, proponents of those kinds of reforms have begun to test the fealty of the GOP to Norquist.

Alan Simpson, the former Republican Senator from Wyoming and former co-chairman of the president’s fiscal commission said, “If Grover Norquist is now the most powerful man in America, he should run for president. There's no question about his power. And let me tell you, he has people enthralled. That's a terrible phrase. Lincoln used it. It means your mind has been captured. You're in bondage with a soul.”

Yesterday on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said of Norquist’s influence on Republicans: “They are in a thrall -- they're in submission to a man whose singular focus keeping taxes low for wealthy, they fear his political retribution.”

That was the second shot Reid had taken at Norquist. Earlier in the week, he said: "My Republican friends, these poor folks, are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist ... They’re giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader.”

Former co-chairman of the President's Fiscal Commission Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, directly went after no-new-taxes activist Grover Norquist.

"If Grover Norquist is the most powerful person in America, he should run for president," the usually locquacious Simpson said. "He has people enthralled."

Norquist's no-new-taxes pledge is a rite of passage for Republican presidential candidates. Each of the 2012 candidates has signed the pledge except former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Simpson then described how Norquist's favorite president was Ronald Reagan and that Reagan raised taxes eight times.

What a difference a month makes.

The House voice voted (no roll was taken) an extension of funding for the FAA for four months and federal highway funds for six months.

This was a clean extension of a previous FAA and Federal highway funding bills, the 22nd temporary extension for the FAA and 8th for the highway funds.

It means the FAA will not shutdown on Friday and states will receive highway funds past Friday assuming the Senate passes the bill also; something that House aides expect.

While today's vote was a result of a bipartisan agreement between Senate and House leaders, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee John Mica (R-FL) has said it will be the last temporary extension he will support and that a full four-year funding bill needs to be put into place after this one expires.

The longer-term bills have run into partisan issues on Capitol Hill.