Tamara Keith

That is just like the sweetest thing.

Like a longtime friendship is amazing.

I did see people snowshoeing in my neighborhood this weekend and it was I was jealous, I will say, as I slid around.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.

I'm Tamara Keith.

I cover the White House.

I'm Ximena Bustillo, and I cover immigration policy.

And if there is a theme for this week, it might just be deja vu all over again.

Congress and the president are once again staring down a government shutdown, partial this time.

Sam, the country had its longest shutdown in history just a few months ago.

That was largely over health care.

How is this time different?

And presumably during that two week period, they would be negotiating policy changes.

Ximena, what are these changes the Democrats are trying to extract?

Sam, as you said, these asks are not necessarily new, but is there a sense that Republicans are more willing to engage on some of this?

And we should remind everyone that Tom Tillis is

now a Republican retiring.

I think that is like a different category of Republican senator.

They are retiring and more free to speak their mind.

And he is empowered by being on the way out.