AMNA NAWAZ: Returning now to the government funding deadline and the potential political fallout, I'm joined by Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Great to see you both.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Good to see you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's start on Capitol Hill.

Tam, once again, lawmakers are up against a deadline to fund the government by the end of this week.

House Republicans, as Lisa reported, have rolled out their plan.

President Trump has backed it online.

He said no dissent, calling for Republicans to show unity here.

They can only lose, Republicans can lose one vote.

If all Democrats vote against it, do you see this passing?

Can Republicans get it done?

TAMARA KEITH: President Trump is asking for, saying please even, asking that there be no dissent.

I think there could be a wee bit of dissent, but President Trump is in a pretty strong position with members of his own party, especially in the House.

They are making a case to House members that this is their best chance to get all of the other things that they want, and also that the Trump White House would be able to use this legislation to be able to make cuts to the government, move money around, do the DOGE plan.

That's actually, incidentally, the argument that Democrats have against it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Which brings me to you, Amy.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have heard the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, basically urging members to vote against it.

There are 13 House Democrats who are in Trump districts.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: That's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: How are they looking at this, and how would Americans view a possible shutdown?

AMY WALTER: That's right.

So, going back to Tam's point, I mean, what Democrats have put forward as their reticence for voting for this is Elon Musk, the DOGE cuts, the rollbacks of these programs, and, of course, we have firings of federal officials.

If they don't vote for this bill, however, the government shuts down, which would mean federal workers would be furloughed, which would mean programs that they're trying to save would be put on hold.

It would have a very problematic, let's say, impact on the very people and programs that they're arguing that they're trying to protect.

So this -- I think for most Americans, they look at this, they hear procedure, they hear -- they see finger-pointing and blaming.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to them, but I think for the big picture here, we're in act one of a very, very long play, because, beyond the government spending, we now have to also get into the next piece that really this is a setup for, which is the Republicans' tax and immigration bill.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

Well, in many ways, Tam, when you step back, this is sort of the first test for President Trump, other than getting his nominees across the finish line, which Senate Republicans mostly fell in line with, and we should note it looks as if they will do the same tonight as the vote for his nominee, for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, that's going on right now.

But this is the first time he needs lawmakers to get through part of his agenda.

Everything else has been through executive action, executive authority.

How do you look at that?

TAMARA KEITH: Right.

So, actually, there was another bill that the House needed to pass to take a first step on the reconciliation.

We're getting into the weeds.

But there was a bill.

And there was some question if Republicans were going to support it, and they fell in line.

And I think that we have seen again and again that Republicans are falling in line with President Trump.

And so betting against that right now is not the best bet.

AMY WALTER: And, I mean, there is only a one-seat margin, as we know, but there's also the opportunity for deals to be cut in the next bill that Republicans need to pass, which is, as I said, this reconciliation, this tax and immigration bill, in which you can see, whether it's the president or leaders on the Republican side, going to recalculate members and saying, hey, I know you're worried about the spending.

We want more cuts in spending.

We will get that in this other bill.

I know you're worried that maybe we're cutting this thing.

Don't worry.

We will get it in the other bill.

But that starts to add up.

And so this is a big test, not just for Trump, of course, but for the speaker, who this would be pretty impressive to be able to get a one-vote House to put this through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, as we speak, we know it was a bad day for the markets, right, which is something we know President Trump and his administration track very closely.

We're hearing more concerns of a possible recession and all the tariff talks, inflation ticking up.

There was an interview this weekend, Tam, in which President Trump was asked if he was expecting a recession this year.

Here's what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I hate to predict things like that.

There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big.

We're bringing wealth back to America.

That's a big thing.

And there are always periods of -- it takes a little time.

It takes a little time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, he didn't exactly say no.

He said there'd be a period of transition.

There could be some pain.

What's the messaging from the White House on this?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, last night on Air Force One, I was part of the pool.

I was the radio pool.

And I got a chance to ask the president about that.

And, essentially, I said, hey, in that interview with Maria Bartiromo, you hesitated about the economy.

Do you expect a recession?

And he said -- quote - - "Of course I hesitated.

Who knows?"

And then we saw today that the markets were not thrilled with his economic analysis.

The argument that the White House and the president's supporters are making and supporters in Congress and others is that, yes, this tariff agenda may shake the markets a bit, but that restructuring the U.S. economy to put more manufacturing back in the U.S. is not something that would be easy.

I don't know if the president is going to continue to have an appetite for this kind of pain.

One other thing I will note is that he had several things on his schedule today that were closed press.

But, typically, in this administration, they have been opening it up.

They didn't open it up today.

They ultimately did put out a statement saying that the president's -- essentially saying the economy is going to be OK. AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

TAMARA KEITH: But I'm pretty sure he didn't want to answer questions about the stock market tanking.

AMNA NAWAZ: In that uncertainty, Amy, will his supporters, who largely voted for him because of the economy, are they going to stick with him?

AMY WALTER: Right.

And that's the real question here.

Right now, obviously, the markets are shaky.

And as we have talked about before, we have seen some consumer indications, some indications from consumers that they are also a little bit anxious about what's to come.

So those things are already starting to pick up.

In terms of support from his base, there is a core, I think, of Trump supporters who will give him that space and that time.

But I remember, not so long ago, this other president who said something about inflation being transitory, but it was going to be OK and to give a little time because it's going to work out in the end.

Voters didn't really give him all that much... AMNA NAWAZ: You're referencing President Biden.

AMY WALTER: I was concerned.

President Biden.

Sorry.

Sorry.

AMY WALTER: But President Biden learned very much and Democrats learned very much the hard way that voters don't give you that much time.

They may give you a little bit of time, but when it starts to impact their own lives -- and, in this case, right, the market itself isn't necessarily real life.

It's not Main Street.

But there are a lot of people who are seeing their own investments lose some ground, as well as the fact that prices for things could go up and they're not going back down.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will be tracking those very closely, for sure.

Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, always great to see you both.

Thank you.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.