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Good morning. I'm Playbook editor Mike DeBonis. It's Monday, May 22nd.

We're just nine days away from a potential federal default, and Washington this week is going to be consumed with the latest twists and turns on whether Congress will act to raise the debt women in time to prevent a whole parade of horribles, from a taking stock market

to skyrocketing borrowing costs to mass unemployment.

Over the weekend, bipartisan negotiations went from on again to off again to on again, and

today's main event is a White House meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin

McCarthy.

We'll have more on that in just a moment.

But we're also watching a big development in the 2024 presidential campaign today,

with Republican Senator Tim Scott expected to announce he is entering the race later today in

North Charleston, South Carolina. Scott is someone to watch, not because he has strong

poll numbers or is a household name, but because,

one, he has a whole lot of money to play with, $22 million left over from his Senate re-election

campaign last year. Two, he's got a deep well of support among his fellow Republican senators,

including number two Senate leader John Thune of South Dakota, whom our Burgess Everett scooped yesterday,

is endorsing Scott and is going to peer with him at today's event. And three, he's the first

prominent African-American candidate in the race, and he has a compelling up-by-his bootstraps

personal story that could help him stand out in an increasingly crowded field. Our Eugene

Daniels has a big preview in this morning's playbook, so be sure to check that out.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that we're also on a word for another potentially more

momentous announcement later this week.

That's from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to make his presidential ambitions

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