Flanked by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and half a dozen right-wing House Republicans, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) extended an invitation to President Biden:

• Attend the meeting of the House Freedom Caucus tonight at 7pm ET to begin budget talks with Capitol Hill's true power brokers.

Why it matters: The absence of negotiations between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — not to mention wall-to-wall media coverage of the potential Trump indictment — has obscured the dangerous trajectory of the ongoing debt-ceiling crisis.

• The Freedom Caucus, which Boebert dubbed "the only caucus who has released a plan to address this situation," is stepping into the vacuum — flexing the same muscle it used to extract concessions from McCarthy during the speaker's election.
• "I'd remind Mr. Biden that America saw what the House Freedom Caucus is made of in January," Boebert said. "Lies don't move us. Media coverage doesn't move us. Attack ads don't move us. Policy moves us."

State of play: Biden released a $6.8 trillion budget this month that functioned as a blueprint for his political priorities — and called on House Republicans to do the same.

• McCarthy, who has refused to commit to raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts, blasted the proposal as "completely unserious."
• After an initial sit-down, Biden said he would not meet again with McCarthy until Republicans release their own budget, which the speaker has indicated could be delayed until May.

In the meantime, the Freedom Caucus released its own preconditions for raising the debt ceiling — a list that includes ending the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program, rescinding unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and clawing back funding for the IRS and climate change prevention.

• "We have a plan, we're ready to go right now. There's no reason this needs to be a crisis now or a crisis in the future," said Freedom Caucus chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
• "I'm very optimistic with what the Freedom Caucus has done," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) added.

Between the lines: Biden, at least for the moment, has been happy to make this a messaging war — and likely will be thrilled that his two favorite foils, Scott on the Senate side and the Freedom Caucus on the House side, are seizing center stage.

• Each day this week, the White House has rolled out blistering fact sheets painting various Freedom Caucus proposals as a "five-alarm fire" for American families.
• At their press conference, members of the Freedom Caucus accused the White House of lying and vowed not to touch Social Security or Medicare or allow the U.S. to default on its debt.

What we're watching: Republicans see the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank as extra incentive to enact spending cuts now. The White House views the brinkmanship as irresponsible and a road to a far more catastrophic debt crisis.

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House Democrats are keeping a critical — and creative — eye on the GOP's unprecedented effort to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, seeing a potential opening to use the probe to their advantage.

What's happening: House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told Punchbowl News on Monday that she briefed former President Trump on plans by three committee chairs to aggressively investigate Bragg, whom Republicans have accused of a "politically motivated prosecutorial decision."

• Last month, a Trump lawyer wrote to House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) calling on Congress to investigate the "egregious abuse of power” by a "rogue local district attorney," the New York Times reports.
• Democrats see this as evidence of collusion between Trump and his House GOP allies — and are preparing to use Republican-led public hearings to hammer the unprecedented nature of their intervention.

What they're saying: "This is an extreme move to use the resources of Congress to interfere with a criminal investigation at the state and local level and block an indictment," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent.

• Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) accused Republicans of "using the official power of Congress to effectively coordinate with a criminal defendant to obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation."

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) was forced to scrap a scheduled committee confirmation vote for Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) raised last-minute questions about the nominee, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

Why it matters: The FAA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since March 2022. If Sinema's concerns hold, the confirmation prospects for FAA nominee Phil Washington, the current CEO of Denver International Airport, are close to zero.

• That would deal a significant blow to the Biden administration's immediate plans to address the delayed flights that have frustrated travelers — not to mention the near-misses on runways that have alarmed experts.
• Democratic officials are scrambling to address Sinema's issues and determine if they are fixable.
• Even if Washington clears the committee, he would still need to pass the full Senate. Republicans have repeatedly called him "unqualified'' and said he lacks specific aviation experience.

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A federal appeals court has ordered Trump's defense attorney Evan Corcoran to testify Friday before the grand jury investigating the former president's handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reports.

Why it matters: Corcoran had previously testified but declined to answer some questions, citing attorney-client privilege. But a federal judge found that Trump knowingly and deliberately misled Corcoran in furtherance of a crime — triggering the "crime-fraud" exception to attorney-client privilege.

• Corcoran also has been ordered to turn over handwritten notes and other documents related to what the judge and DOJ prosecutors called Trump's alleged "criminal scheme."
• The developments are a reminder that Trump faces far more serious legal jeopardy outside of the Manhattan investigation.