Government shutdown still possible as Congress enters crunch time

The procrastinating, historically inept Congress will have its hands full starting Monday, when it will attempt to cram two years of leftover business into two weeks.

The stooges on Capitol Hill must avoid a government shutdown, renew expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses and approve a defense policy measure that has passed for more than 50 years in a row.

Also up for debate: President Obama’s requests for more cash to combat the Islamic State, fight Ebola and better cope with the influx of unaccompanied Central American children crossing into the U.S.

The top priority is preventing a government closure when a temporary funding measure expires Dec. 11 — an achievement that will be more difficult after Obama’s unilateral move to protect millions of immigrants from deportation.

House Speaker John Boehner has yet to rule out the possibility of a government shutdown.

Earlier this month, the Ohio Republican said “all options are on the table” to put a stop to Obama’s immigration plan.

“We are going to fight the President tooth and nail if he continues down this path,” he said. “So all of the options are on the table.”

Republicans shut down the government for more than two weeks last year when they tried to cut funding for Obamacare, a maneuver that led many to criticize GOP leaders for the tactic.

This year, Sen. Ted Cruz, who played a central role in last year’s standoff, dismissed concerns about how Republicans would be seen if they organized another shutdown over Obama’s immigration plan.

“At the time, you and a lot of folks in the press said, what a disaster it was to stand up to Obamacare,” the Texas Republican said on “Fox News” last week. “Let me point out, we just had a historic election where we won nine seats in the Senate, we retired Harry Reid, we just got the biggest majority in the House since the 1920s, and the biggest issue we campaigned on was Obamacare.”

The House and Senate appropriations committees are negotiating a $1 trillion-plus spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1 and promise to have it ready by the week of Dec. 8.

The president’s authority to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria expires Dec. 11. Lawmakers probably will renew it while postponing action until next year on a broader, new authorization to use military force.

Among the lower-profile items on the agenda are renewing the government’s terrorism risk insurance program and extending the ban on state and federal taxes on access to the Internet.

The disgraceful 113th Congress has set benchmarks for lowest approval rating and failure to pass laws of substance.