Good Monday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing,

sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase and Company. And I'm Jake Sherman. We have two stories breaking

overnight. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Afghanistan to assess war needs. Vice President

Mike Pence is cutting short his overseas trip by one night. He's now returning to D.C. on

Tuesday. And AIDS cited the number of

issues happening in Washington this week, including health care, government funding, and tax reform.

What to look for this week. As President Donald Trump readies his announcement of broad brush

principles on tax reform Wednesday, he won't be making this announcement in a vacuum.

Expect Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin

and his team to provide backup and swiftly move to help sell the plan. Treasury has more than

100 people working on tax policy, and Mnuchin has been meeting every day on tax reform.

Sources say the Secretary has also been actively reaching out on Capitol Hill, meeting

weekly with key stakeholders like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady when

Congress is in session.

One thing to watch, right now the White House and Republican leaders are on completely

different pages when it comes to tax reform.

We'll be watching who, if any GOP leaders, will attend Trump's

announcement. Reminder, the government shuts down on Friday, and here's where things stand.

President Donald Trump would like Congress to fund the border wall in the government funding

package this week. The reality is quite simple. Trump needs Democrats to pass a funding measure,

and Democrats are opposed to the border wall. So the White House is almost certain to lose this fight.

Here's how Trump could get a win if he settles for an increase in spending on surveillance on the border, drones and things like that.

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