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President Joe Biden ended August on Tuesday with a combative speech in which he defended his decision-making on Afghanistan, which has become by far the most controversial turn of his short presidency.\nHe criticized Afghan national security forces for melting away in the face of the Taliban. He insisted that Americans in Afghanistan had \u201cmultiple warnings and offers to help them leave.\u201d\n\u201cBiden is fighting The Blob,\u201d noted our colleague Alex Ward. \u201cThat seems to be the messaging here, both in and out of DC.\u201d\nAnd, Biden is about to make a sharp pivot from fighting D.C.\u2019s foreign policy Blob to fighting D.C.\u2019s interest group Blob.\nTwo weeks from today, congressional committees are scheduled to complete assembling the myriad pieces of Build Back Better into a single bill \u2014 resulting in possibly the largest package of new legislation in American history.\nToday we start Playbook\u2019s series of deep dives into the major policies of the reconciliation bill by digging into the Dems\u2019 proposals to lower prescription drug costs.