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Hey, good morning, Playbookers.

I'm Rooko Munovalin.

It's Monday.

If you were hoping to leave D.C. early for the winter break, you might want to change your plans.

It's your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

President Joe Biden and lawmakers. Return to Washington this week, facing a lengthy lame duck

to-do list with only three weeks scheduled to resolve it.

That's a recipe for a very unmarried holiday season should negotiations falter in the final

throws of this term of Congress.

First up on the docket government funding.

That expires December 16th and the verdict is still out on whether a bipartisan full year

appropriations deal is within reach, or whether Congress will just kick the can down the road

and pass another continuing resolution into next year. All eyes this week will be on Senate Republicans

and especially GOP leader Mitch McConnell,

who will have to decide whether to help put up the 10 needed GOP votes to clear a 2023 omnibus.

It'll be a close call. On one hand, Republicans will control the House next year, boosting the party's

bargaining hand. On the other, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, or whoever wins the Speaker's gavel,

will be dealing with a slim, unruly majority,

one that might well rally around the government shutdown to signal there's a new sheriff in town.

Here's the thing, though, McConnell has never been fond of shutdowns,

and he might decide to clear the decks and spare Republicans one political headache,

...