Shh!  Obama gets anti-secrecy award  —  The president accepted a transparency award in a closed, undisclosed meeting.  —  President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

Budget deal close with $33B in cuts  —  Budget talks came to life Wednesday but not without new tension between the White House and Senate Democrats, worried that the administration is too quick to agree to $33 billion in cuts to move Speaker John Boehner toward what remains a very uncertain deal.

Tapper offers Carney ‘straw men’  —  The temperature in the White House briefing jumped up Wednesday afternoon as Jake Tapper and Jay Carney vented some of their frustrations with each other publicly.  —  At one point, Tapper dissed Carney by saying he could provide a “room full of straw men” for the White House press secretary.

VIDEO: Indiana GOP Rep Says Women Will Pretend To Be Raped To Get Free Abortions  —  Yesterday morning, the Indiana House considered an anti-abortion bill that “would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law.”  Introduced by state Rep. Eric Turner (R) …

Democrats consider proposing tax hikes  —  Senate Democrats are discussing plans to introduce tax policy changes that they say would raise federal revenues and broaden the budget debate beyond discretionary spending cuts.  —  Democrats feel they have been boxed by Republicans into a debate …

An Arizona Senate Race Waits to See if Giffords Emerges to Run  —  TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords is still in the hospital, but some of her most ardent backers are so enamored of the idea of her running for the Senate that they describe the inevitable campaign commercials …

Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates win no love on Capitol Hill  —  President Barack Obama's foreign policy “A” team — led by Cabinet secretaries Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates — failed to quiet criticism of U.S. military action in Libya Wednesday during a pair of classified briefings on Capitol Hill.

Ohio Legislature Passes Bill Curbing Unions  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Legislature voted Wednesday to severely limit the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public workers, sending a bill that sparked weeks of pro-labor protests to Republican Gov. John Kasich, who is expected to sign it by the end of the week.

Antitrust Cry From Microsoft  —  The wheel of technology history turns remarkably fast.  Microsoft, whose domination of the technology industry provoked a landmark federal antitrust case, is crying foul against Google and urging European Union antitrust officials to go after the search giant.

A Well-Intentioned Bad Idea  —  International Vice President, United Steelworkers  —  By now anyone who had not yet heard of the Koch brothers has been introduced to them.  Every major newspaper and magazine has run an article about the brothers who until recently lived largely under …

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as ‘The Governator’ — EXCLUSIVE  —  He's been a famous body builder.  He's been a killer cyborg from the future.  He's been Governor of California.  And now, in this week's exclusive cover scoop, Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals his plans for the next phase …

GOP report: AARP stands to make $1 billion from ObamaCare, IRS should investigate  —  Good stuff.  AARP is the Death Star of American entitlements, so if the GOP wants to reform Social Security and Medicare, they're going to have to fire some photon torpedoes.

Rubio Takes the Lead  —  Urges Congress to authorize military action, endorse regime change.  —  THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained the text of a letter freshman senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent tonight to the Senate majority and minority leaders.  In it, Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize …

With New ‘Monkey Bill,’ Tennessee Takes Evolution Education Back To Scopes  —  Eighty six years after the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial opened Tennessee to the debate about the teaching of evolution, the state House is trying to slam the door shut again.  Tennessee's House Education Committee approved …

GOPers Demand Sean Duffy Salary Tape Be Pulled From The Internet (VIDEO)  —  First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website.  Now they want it gone from the whole Internet.

What a shutdown could cost us  —  (Jin Lee - Bloomberg) I don't want to start a market panic here.  I've no desire to be known for “The Klein Crash of 2011.”  But it's safe to say that much of Washington finds the low, low yields on Treasurys — which represent the market's serene confidence …

Sokol Resigns After Stock Disclosure; Berkshire Succession Thrown Into Question  —  David Sokol, considered by outsiders to be the most likely candidate to succeed Warren Buffett, resigned from Berkshire Hathaway after purchasing shares of a company he suggested Buffett buy.  Neal Lipschutz and Alistair Barr discuss.

TheDC Exclusive: Bachmann on possible 2012 White House bid: 'This isn't a game for me'  —  In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, ripped detractors of her potential presidential bid saying her decision on whether to run, coming “early summer,” is a “serious” one.

Obama issues veto threat over union measure in FAA bill  —  President Obama has threatened to veto the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill unless a provision on union organizing is removed.  —  In a statement of administration policy Wednesday, the White House said the president's …