THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The Republicans needed brute force attacks on Congressional rules and norms and open and notorious bribery of hesitant members, cf. Corker Kickback. They now face a more serious and more difficult job with less time than they gave the tax scam, if that's possible.

In their latest bid to avoid a government shutdown, House Republican leaders are trying to move forward with a new plan that would keep the government funded into January while kicking fights over issues like immigration and surveillance into the new year.

The latest plan from Republican leaders would extend government funding until Jan. 19 while also providing a short-term funding fix for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, whose financing lapsed in October.

After the House and Senate succeeded in passing a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul this week, the stopgap bill includes language to prevent automatic spending cuts that would be required to offset the tax bill’s effect on the deficit.

Republicans also want to approve $81 billion in additional disaster aid in response to this year’s hurricanes and wildfires, funding that could be approved as a separate bill before lawmakers leave for the holidays.

Government funding currently runs through Friday, and with less than 48 hours to go, it remained up in the air on Thursday whether Republican leaders would be able to find the votes they need to avert a crisis. The short-term punt has angered members of both parties. Many Republicans are frustrated with the current level of funding for the military, and many Democrats were eager for a fight over protections for young immigrants brought illegally to the country as children.

The House package also provides minimal funding, $2.85 billion, for the children’s health program, leaving state administrators and health advocates anxious.

“I do not think this is anywhere close to enough money,” said Bruce Lesley, the president of First Focus, a child advocacy group. “For a $12 billion to $14 billion program, this provides less than $3 billion for what is effectively six months” — the first half of the 2018 fiscal year, which began in October.

An earlier iteration of the measure would have provided long-term funding for the Defense Department, and some Republicans in the House have grown impatient as they seek to raise military spending. Defense hawks worry that a military buildup this fiscal year would be difficult if a real spending plan is not approved until at least a third of the way through fiscal 2018.

House Democrats have shown no willingness to support a stopgap measure as they push for other priorities, including securing a deal to shield young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. They will have to wait until at least January for action on that issue.

As Republicans try to overcome their internal divisions, Democrats complained that Congress was lurching from one crisis to the next, with a stack of big issues still unresolved, including a long-term spending deal.

“Hanukkah just came to a close, we are four days from Christmas, and we are nine days from the end of the year, and much of the work that this Congress needs to do is undone,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip.

If the House can succeed in passing the stopgap bill on Thursday, the Senate would need to approve it to avert a shutdown this weekend. And that would almost certainly take Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to cut off debate.

The Republicans need to pass the bill or they will have another shutdown on their hands. And this time they need to work with Democrats to get it done. CAn they remember how it is done and overcome their own lunatic fringe?