GOP leaders' complex fight to avoid federal shutdown

A band of conservatives say they won't back legislation financing government agencies unless the bill blocks federal payments to Planned Parenthood.

With time running out, GOP leaders haven't said how they will handle conservatives' demands while also rounding up enough votes to prevent a shutdown.

Conservative and Republican revulsion for Planned Parenthood and abortion has been reignited this summer by secretly recorded videos showing organization officials offhandedly discussing how they sometimes provide tissue from aborted fetuses for medical researchers.

Keeping conservatives happy and prompting large numbers of them to vote in next year's presidential and congressional elections is good for the GOP.

The public mostly blamed Republicans in 2013 when a partial shutdown lasted 16 days after they tried dismantling Obama's health care law in exchange for keeping agencies open.

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., has collected 31 signatures from conservative lawmakers pledging to oppose any bill funding government if it includes money for Planned Parenthood.

If his group of 31 holds and Boehner wants to pass a bill preventing a shutdown and funding Planned Parenthood, he'd need Democratic votes.

[...] no leader likes to battle his own party's members and rely on the other's to pass crucial legislation.

[...] the deep partisan schism over Obama's nuclear weapons deal with Iran — which garnered zero Republican votes — spotlights bitter divisions that could hinder Boehner from winning Democratic support.