Presented by blue cross blue shield association. Hey, what's a playbook or something to fall in? It's Monday and good news for people who like bad news. It's the return of debt ceiling drama. This is your political playbook daily briefing. Here's your scoop of the day, Politico's Betsy Woodruff's swan and Meredith McGraw report that, quote, a former D.C. National Guard official is accusing two senior army leaders of lying to Congress and participating in a secret attempt to rewrite the history of the military's response to the capital riot in a 36 page memo, colonel Earl Matthews, who held high level National Security Council and Pentagon roles during the Trump administration. Slams The Pentagon's inspector general for what he calls an error riddled report that protects the top army official who argued against sending the National Guard to the capitol on January 6th. That delayed the response to the insurrection for hours. Matisse's memo sent to the January 6th elect committee this month and obtained by Politico includes detailed recollections of the insurrection response as it calls two army generals, quote absolute and unmitigated liars for their characterization of the events of that day. Matthews has never publicly discussed the chaos of the capital siege. You can check out the rest of that story in today's playbook. Lawmakers return to Washington this week for what could be the trickiest issue of the month, the debt ceiling. House democratic leaders have discussed adding a provision addressing the dead ceiling to the final NDAA and voting on the as soon as this week. That's according to a senior democratic aide. That's assuming, of course, that compromise NDA language is ironed out between the two chambers. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has privately signaled to majority leader Chuck Schumer that he could go along with this idea, which would end their months long stalemate. But there are serious questions about whether this defense debt ceiling sandwich could pass the House. And much of that is because of one man who might typically be aligned with McConnell, but on this issue appears opposed. Kevin McCarthy. Before we get there, let's take a look at the tricky math. On the left, there are 38 House Democrats who voted against the NDAA, the first time it came to the Florence of timber. That was namely progressives who have long opposed the overall size of The Pentagon budget. Democratic leaders believed they could pick up some of those 38 if they tack on the debt ceiling solution, arguing it simply has to pass. The question is, how many do they get? They don't know yet. On the right, democratic leaders expect many of the 75 House Republicans who help pass the NDAA earlier this year will pill off if they added debt provision. That's especially true if they receive pressure from maga world, the freedom caucus or even GOP leaders to oppose the pairing. Still, Democrats who are a fan of this idea hope, a mix of defense minded GOP hawks, loathed to oppose any defense minded Bill, and more moderate Republicans eager to avoid default could compensate for any progressives they lose on the vote. They also acknowledged that this proposal could fall totally flat, leaving them scrambling to find another move this week. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy panned the NDA Dutch elling idea twice last week. Albeit rather gently. He said he doesn't think Democrats could get the votes and encourage the party to raise the debt ceiling on their own music reconciliation. As McConnell has been saying for months. Democrats seem to be hoping that McConnell can persuade McCarthy to give just enough GOP lawmakers and inconspicuous green light to vote for the combo and send it to the Senate. That seems naive, but he wants to be speaker and will almost certainly come under pressure from the far right to take a position and enforce it. We reached out to McCarthy's team last night to find out if he intended to whip his members against this bill, but didn't receive an answer. Here's the question, is there a plan B if this fails? Should wear McConnell's offices have been very circumspect about their ongoing dead silly negotiations? The two haven't been out there bashing each other or making demands on the issue the way they were a few months ago. Notably, McConnell hasn't been heard lately insisting Democrats need to use reconciliation to address it. Perhaps that's a good sign, but good feelings alone won't get the job done. Get ready for another crazy week. Here's what's up in Washington today, starting with The White House. President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris will receive the president's daily brief. At 2 p.m., Biden will deliver remarks on prescription drugs, press secretary Jen Psaki will brief in 1 p.m., the Senate will meet a 3 p.m. the house is out until tomorrow. All right, that's all I've got for you today for more news and what's breaking in D.C. right now. Subscribe to the playbook newsletter. That's at Politico dot com slash playbook. Our music is composed by the mysterious breakmaster cylinder. I'm ragu naval and have a great week. We'll see you first thing tomorrow morning. The United States has the highest maternal death rate of any developed nation and racial disparities are a key factor. That's why blue cross and blue shield companies are confronting this crisis. They've launched a multiyear nationwide health equity strategy, starting with a goal to reduce racial disparities in maternal health building a more equitable system for the health of America..