The White House is embracing the fight over the first government shutdown since 2019, viewing it as a political loser for Democrats and an opening to unilaterally advance its own policy interests.

President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought have signaled they plan to use the shutdown to further slash the federal workforce and potentially pare back government programs and benefits.

While some polling has shown many Americans will hold Republicans — who control both chambers of Congress and the White House — responsible for the shutdown, administration officials and their allies have spent weeks framing Democratic demands around additional health care spending as unreasonable and out of step with the public.

“It’s obviously a Democratic shutdown, just

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