Good Monday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing,

sponsored by Charter Communications. And I'm Jake Sherman, just five days until the government

runs out of money. Here's something to consider. Republicans have held the majority in Congress

for three years, routinely promising to normalize government operations. Yet here we are,

December 18th, the government slated to shut down

in just a few days, just a few days short of Christmas as well. A deal-to-booth spending levels has all but fallen apart, and the two chambers will come back into session this week with no idea how to keep the government running. But it looks like they will get tax reform done by the end of the week. Our colleagues Rachel Bade, Sungman Kim,

and Jen Habercorn have the latest state of play, and it isn't looking good. Republican leaders

in each chamber have promised its members things that won't fly in the other chamber. Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Susan Collins that he'd support passage of a bill by the end of the year

to prop up the Obamacare insurance market as long as she votes for tax reform. That's a no-go in the

House. Speaker Paul Ryan, meanwhile, has greenlighted a spending strategy that funds the Pentagon,

but not Democratic priorities. And they floated a plan to pass that bill and leave town in order to jam the Senate.

But McConnell needs eight Democrats to pass anything.

So that plan is sure to fail in his chamber.

Bloomberg is reporting that the tax bill has a last-minute perk for real estate investors like Trump.

The change in the law would allow real estate businesses to take advantage of a new tax break for pass-through businesses.

Senator Bob Corker came under fire as people accused him of supporting the bill only after this provision was added.

He completely denies that.

The Wall Street Journal reports what we all know.

This tax bill is going to be the gift that keeps on giving to Washington because it's advancing without bipartisan support.

And there are expiration dates for these tax provisions that will guarantee it will be revisited for years.

Senator John McCain has returned to Arizona.

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