New York Times: “In the upside-down political messaging surrounding the shutdown fight, conservative Republicans, usually eager to assail government largess, have transformed themselves into enthusiastic evangelists for federal spending and programs. It is part of a bid by the GOP to maximize the pressure on Democrats, who routinely advocate for government workers and services, to relent in the spending battle.”

“There are limits to the Republican shutdown conversion — most notably Mr. Trump himself… Still, top Republicans in Congress and some at the White House are expressing the gravest of concerns for a bureaucracy they usually deride as useless or worse.”

“When Russell Vought, the White House budget director, announced last week that he was canceling $8 billion in federal funding for energy projects, it was clear that his directive was aimed at hurting Democrats in states they lead,” the New York Times reports.

“But the energy cuts also appear to have done collateral damage to projects championed by House Republicans in competitive districts in blue states from New York to California — the kind of seats that built the G.O.P. majority, and whose loss could wipe it out.”

Speaker Mike Johnson said that he spoke to Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) over the weekend and assured her the House would pass spending bills if the federal government reopens, Punchbowl News reports.

Said Johnson: “I told her it is my full intention that if we break this impasse and we put these bills together — we have three of them in conference committee right now — whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor. I’m ready to go. But we got to open government up so that they can move to that next level, so the conference committee can get that work done.”

“While Johnson said the call was ‘not some sort of confidential thing,’ the conversation is incredibly interesting. There have been absolutely no talks between Republicans and Democrats in recent days.”