Aug. 23, 2021: Who’ll blink first: Pelosi or the Mod Squad?

This week's big storyline: the Pelosi-Gottheimer game of chicken — The House returns to Washington today for a rare mid-August-recess vote on Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget — at least in theory.

One little problem: Speaker Nancy Pelosi still doesn’t have the votes to pass it.

And on Sunday night, the White House announced that over a 12-hour period at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Sunday, approximately 1,700 people were evacuated on 8 U.S. military flights, and 3,400 people via coalition aircraft.

— Biden is considering extending the Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw troops in order to facilitate the evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies. Among those lobbying for it: British PM Boris Johnson, according to the Telegraph.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.