Complicating matters even more for the GOP, President Trump on Thursday morning seemed to undercut their strategy by tweeting his opposition to including a long-term extension of CHIP in a short-term funding bill. “CHIP should be part of a long term solution,” he wrote. Removing the CHIP part of the continuing resolution would give Democrats even more reason to vote no, increasing the odds of a government shutdown.

On Wednesday, Ryan had pleaded with Democrats to set aside their DACA objections for the time being, arguing that it was “unconscionable” for Democrats to risk funding for children’s health coverage or the military “by playing these political games and tying them to unrelated issues.” “Real deadlines are occurring on Friday,” he said.

It’s a time-honored rhetorical tactic that Democrats recognize all too well: They relied on the same misleading message to batter Republicans for threatening and then executing on a government shutdown over Obamacare in 2013. Congress always retroactively restores funding and paychecks for government workers, including the military, in the event of a shutdown. And in the case of CHIP, the GOP has failed for months to advance an extension that could win support in the Senate. Only in recent days have Republicans dropped their demand to offset the cost of an extension with Medicare cuts that Democrats oppose.

Ryan’s more immediate problem, however, is on his own side. Conservatives and defense hawks are fed up with the succession of stopgap spending measures, and they have pushed the leadership to include at least a full year of defense funding—with the big boost sought by the Trump administration—alongside a temporary extension for domestic agencies. “I don’t like it,” Representative Mark Walker of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told me on Wednesday. “It’s bad politics.” He said the leadership appeared to be short of the Republican votes needed to pass the bill without help from Democrats.

Earlier in the day, Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the more confrontational House Freedom Caucus, told HuffPost that there was enough opposition just in his group to sink the bill. And it was Walker who on Tuesday compared the proposal to a scatological delicacy, according to The Hill. Asked if Republicans would have enough votes on their own, Ryan said party leaders hadn’t whipped their members yet. “I think cool heads hopefully will prevail on this thing,” he told reporters.

Yet in an indication of how much pressure Republicans are under, Walker told me he might vote for the bill anyway. “I think a majority of the RSC will go along one more time, but there is growing discontent,” he said. Party unity is particularly important for GOP leaders because of the legislative gamesmanship Democrats are plotting. “If that wasn’t the argument, this thing would be dead already,” Walker said. “That is the one salvageable piece.”