EARLIER ON THE FIX:

4 theories on why the Senate is turning into the House

Marco Rubio: GOP decoder ring

How long did you wait to vote? Depends on your race

After a week of voting, we have narrowed our initial field of 32 potential Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to just 16!

Like the 1st round of the NCAA tournament, top seeds in The Fix Sweet 2016 bracket generally advanced. Overall number one seed and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disposed of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel with a remarkable 97 percent of online votes. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top seed on the Republican side of the bracket, took care of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with 83 percent of the vote.

For the third straight year, the GOP-controlled House has passed Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget blueprint. The budget cuts about $5 trillion over the next decade and aims to balance the budget by the end of that 10-year period.

The House on Thursday morning voted to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the government for the next six months and also passed Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget.

The continuing resolution, which passed easily in the Senate on Wednesday and will prevent the government from shutting down later this month, passed 318-109.

For the third time in the last three years, the Republican-controlled House today will vote in favor of a budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that, by anyone's calculation, prizes austerity.

Few -- if any -- House Republicans will vote against the Ryan budget (Four Republicans voted "no" in 2011; 10 voted "no" in 2012.) But, increasingly there is a debate within the GOP about whether pushing austerity and a relentless focus on the bottom line is the right policy and political path for the party.

Congress has just five days (and really, just three full legislative days) until the start of a two-week spring break, leaving little time to put the finishing touches on a host of unresolved matters and to plan ahead for whatever lawmakers will grapple over once they return.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Sunday that he believes Republicans would consider adding new tax revenues by closing loopholes if Democrats show a willingness to embrace "true" entitlement reform.

"I think Republicans, if they saw true entitlement reform, would be glad to look at tax reform that generates additional revenues," Corker said on "Fox News Sunday." "And that doesn't mean increasing rates, that means closing loopholes. It also means arranging our tax system so that we have economic growth."

* Obama engaged in some oil policy jujitsu.

* Rob Portman came out in favor of gay marriage.

* MoveOn is moving on.

* And at CPAC, Mitt Romney, Wayne LaPierre, Bobby Jindal, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump all spoke.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) delivered a wonky speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, just a week after releasing the latest version of his House Republican budget.

The 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee argued that the government's record debt is a sign that it is doing too much. But he also sought to allay concerns that Republicans will simply cut indiscriminately.

Federal unions, frustrated by their inability to defend against budget cuts, are taking their fight to the people.

The largest federal union plans to hold 100 rallies next Wednesday across the country, a “National Day of Protest” against the widespread cuts, called sequestration, that threaten federal pay and public services.