Top House Republicans agree on a two-part plan to keep the government from closing in nine days. Now comes the hard part: selling it.

At a meeting in the basement of the Capitol Tuesday morning, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the GOP leadership team will face rank-and-file Republicans for the first time since President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration. They will try to convince the troops to channel their anger at a mostly symbolic immigration bill, while agreeing to a separate funding package that would keep most of the government open for nine months, while funding immigration enforcement agencies for just a few months.


The meeting is the first big test of whether Boehner, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Steve Scalise (R-La.) can accomplish what they have promised since a sweeping election victory this fall — that they can move beyond the days of ruling by crisis and prove they can govern responsibly.

( Also on POLITICO: House to vote on immigration action, avoid shutdown)

By Monday night, leaders were beginning to gauge whether their colleagues would support a bill introduced by Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) that states the executive branch does not have the power to exempt some people from immigration laws — a direct affront to Obama’s moves. The Florida Republican’s bill is expected to garner widespread support in the House conference and give GOP lawmakers an outlet to vent some of their frustrations with Obama. The Senate is not likely to take up the measure.

Boehner and other GOP leaders hope that by allowing them to vote for the Yoho bill they can get enough support from the rank and file to move forward with a funding deal, which will keep nearly all the government open until September 2015, while funding immigration enforcement agencies on a short-term basis.

It won’t be an easy task. Not only is Boehner weighing the desires of his own rambunctious conference, his moves are part of a larger game of three-level chess with power centers on K Street, across Capitol Hill and in the White House competing to move their agenda forward in the next week and a half. Boehner and his allies say he has been hobbled by the White House, which unveiled a controversial proposal before government funding was set to expire.

The most pressing item Boehner has to deal with is the government-funding fight. The GOP leadership plans to move forward with a plan at some point next week.

( Also on POLITICO: House and Senate GOP to hold joint retreat)

Some aides and lawmakers in the leadership think that the anger about the executive action is overstated, and Boehner and McCarthy (R-Calif.) will be able to credibly make the case that Yoho’s bill is a good option. And, leadership will argue that if the Senate ignores the language, they can return to the fight in early 2015.

Others are less sanguine, and have been exploring options such as a split government funding bill, a short-term bill, language to prevent Obama from using government-collected fees to implement his policies and a lawsuit. Some have advocated action on a series of small-bore immigration bills. If all other options fail, Congress is poised to create another cliff in the first quarter of 2015 by passing a short-term funding bill.

At the same time, House Republican leadership is privately plotting how to move a yearlong extension of business-friendly tax breaks. GOP leders began gauging support Monday, and were studying the calendar so the Senate has enough time to vote. A bill could come to the floor by Wednesday.

This flood of action is unexpected and unwanted. Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wanted to have a quiet lame-duck session, where the leadership simply cleared legislation and potential funding cliffs to have a productive first quarter. But now, these fights are shifting to the beginning of 2015, throwing them into the mix with a new Republican majority that will be beginning to jell, and a presidential nominating contest that will be starting.

( Also on POLITICO: The new GOP divide)

Some of this is Congress’s fault, but leaders on Capitol Hill blame the president. The government funding debate was designed to be simple — the House Republicans and Senate Democrats had all but agreed on a yearlong spending bill until the executive order on immigration was issued. That also blew up tax extender deal, which was negotiated by House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp of Michigan, Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon and Reid.

One former Republican tax aide was pessimistic that Congress and the White House could come to a deal for a bigger extension package.“How do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again given the terms of the original agreement have been widely discussed?”

While the leadership struggles to coalesce, K Street is growing restless — putting enormous pressure on key allies to act. The short-term bill that Congress is settling on is a worst-case scenario for business. One tax lobbyist said there was widespread frustration with the White House for “torpedoing” a deal and called it “sobering” that Congress would likely do the bare minimum before leaving.

K Street, meanwhile, has been flooding Capitol Hill trying to gather intelligence and meet with key aides to push lawmakers to aim for a longer-term tax deal. Powerful industries ranging from manufacturing, to high tech, to wind energy, business groups like the Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all been pressing their case.

( POLITICO Magazine: The Gunfight in Cyberspace)

“It’s all hands on deck just to get them to act to get something done and not allow this Congress to leave without renewing them,” said Rich Gold, the head of Holland & Knight’s government affairs practice, of tax extenders.

“I think that part of the frustration is that you are talking about immediate economic consequences,” Information Technology Industry Council’s Andy Halataei said. “To the degree that a one-year extension really only applies to 2014, it would be much better than Congress just adjourning, but it still doesn’t speak to the certainty that we need to plan and to remain competitive in a global marketplace.”

Not taking any action would be a disaster for corporations looking to plan for the next year. It would be nearly unprecedented for Congress to leave without passing a one-year extension.

“If they don’t extend these, it’s a tax increase on all those companies that are affected,” said Dorothy Coleman, head of tax policy for the National Association of Manufacturers.