GEOFF BENNETT: Well, it has been a busy Monday here in Washington following a late-night vote to clear a path to end the longest ever U.S.

government shutdown.

We're joined now by our Politics Monday duo.

That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

It's great to see you both.

So, Tam, how do you interpret this deal by the seven Democrats and the independent senator who caucuses with the Democrats to join with Republicans and ultimately reopen the government?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: So, as Senator Kaine put it, he was sort of factoring in what they could possibly get.

And these moderates seemed to believe that there wasn't much more that could come from a longer shutdown, but there was a lot of pain happening.

So that is what they're out there saying.

I will note that all of them who signed on to this, all of the Democrats who signed on to it are either retiring or don't have an election in the coming year.

So that is also a significant marker that they felt that they could go out on this limb in a way that others could not.

And the wrath of the party, the rest of the party has been pretty immediate and quite strong, that there are just a lot of Democrats out there up and down from leadership in the House to people who are potentially running for president to just normal people, regular people who are saying, what did they get?

What was the deal?

And I think that that is something that is roiling Democrats.

Dems were in total array last week when they were winning and now they are back in disarray this week.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, pick up on that point, Amy, because the message from the Democratic base has been clear.

They want to see a fight.

And there's a recent poll by NBC which shows why Democrats broadly speaking are -- take issue with the way this all came together.

When you look at these numbers, what do you see?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Right.

So this is back in Trump's first term.

Most Democrats tell the NBC poll we think that Democrats should work or compromise with Donald Trump over sticking on principles and potentially doing more damage.

Now, we're going to put up the next slide.

The next slide, you will see is in 2025, those numbers have completely flipped, and so now 65 percent of Democrats saying Democrats should put up a fight no matter what, and only a third of Democrats saying we think you should compromise with Donald Trump.

We talk a lot about how much the Republican Party has changed in the 10 years since Donald Trump has come on the scene.

We don't spend as much time talking about how much the Democratic Party has changed in the years since Donald Trump hit the scene.

And this poll is a great reminder of that.

This is a party that is much less interested in giving the benefit of the doubt to this administration.

They're much less interested in believing that there is compromise to be had, and they want that fight, which is why the roiling is going to continue for some time.

And it is kind of remarkable.

It's across the ideological spectrum.

It's not just liberals who are upset.

You saw moderate groups like The Third Way come out with a statement also saying they shouldn't have done this, that those eight Democrats shouldn't have compromised or given their votes to Republicans.

I think the bottom line though, Geoff, and all of this is that in the short term, what Democrats are seeing is they lost a political fight that they thought they could win and they come away -- after 40 days with nothing tangible to show their base.

There's no extension of the ACA credits.

However, for Republicans looking at this, I don't think they should feel entirely comfortable saying they won, because if we learned anything from Tuesday's election and looking at the polling up until then and continuing, the number one challenge for Republicans in 2026 is this issue of affordability.

And without a vote -- I mean, one way to fix their affordability problem is actually to take a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies.

That doesn't look likely to happen in the House, but Democrats are still going to make that affordability issue a top one in their campaign next year.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that was my next question for you, Tam, in fact, that the Democrats did come out of this 41-day shutdown and counting and the election this past Tuesday with this clear, consistent message on affordability, which they hoped, they would say, to use as a cudgel against the president.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes, and I think that they - - Democrats who are upset about this deal take some solace in the fact that the issue of these Obamacare subsidies is front of mind for a lot of people.

The shutdown extended through the start of open enrollment and people seeing what their health plans would cost without these subsidies.

And so some of the Democrats I'm talking to say, well, they did tee up this fight to potentially hurt the president and Republicans, making it clear who would be responsible for these costs being higher.

And you see President Trump, pivoting to affordability in a big way.

He is literally using the word affordability far more in the days since that election than he did in the weeks and months before it.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

TAMARA KEITH: He is now talking about affordability in sort of a different way than a lot of people absorb it.

But it is clear that the White House realizes that is an issue and that is a problem.

It's also why you see the president trying to offer some sort of health care solution, not one that health care experts would say is particularly practical, the idea of just giving people money.

However, the fact that he's offering that is a sign that it is an issue facing Republicans, remarkably, eight years after they failed to repeal and replace Obamacare.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

And that I think gets to the heart of it.

I was texting with a Republican source after the Tuesday elections who said, boy, this seems like a really good opportunity for Republicans or a wakeup call for Republicans on what to do with this health care issue.

Take a vote on Obamacare subsidies.

There are plenty of Republicans who would like to say that they voted for something that reduces costs for people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Amy Walter and Tamara Keith, our thanks to you both.

TAMARA KEITH: Thank you.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.