WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan faces his first big test as Congress stares down a deadline to do something that has become increasingly difficult: pass a bill to fund the government.

With just seven workdays remaining before the Dec. 11 deadline, the new speaker will aim to leverage his political honeymoon into a strategy that will avoid another federal shutdown.

House Speaker Paul Ryan must walk a tightrope between conservatives who want action on social issues and Democrats in order to pass a government spending bill. The Associated Press

But already Ryan is under pressure to tack on a host of Republican policy provisions to the $1.1 trillion spending bill, among them efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, halt the entry of Syrian refugees into the U.S. and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Forcing any of those extras into the bill might bolster support from conservatives, but it would also unleash a backlash from Democrats, setting up a showdown in Congress and with the White House.

“We obviously have difference of opinions on all of these big issues,” Ryan said Tuesday, declining to explain how they might be resolved.

The Wisconsin Republican received an assist from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 Republican, who suggested Monday that the Dec. 11 deadline to pass a spending bill might slip to Dec. 18, allowing more time to get rank-and-file Republicans on board.

Leaders need to tamp down Republican dissent over what will likely be a compromise with Democrats.

President Obama previously said he would not sign another temporary funding bill beyond the one that runs out Dec. 11, but the White House softened that Monday, opening the door for a stopgap measure for just a few days.

The days ahead will be pivotal for Ryan, who has enjoyed mostly positive reviews since he took over for beleaguered House Speaker John Boehner this fall.

But Ryan’s leadership has not yet been seriously tested.

“I say with some confidence that the newly elected speaker of the House doesn’t want to preside over a government shutdown six weeks into his tenure,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Just two months ago, the funding fight over Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, led in part by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the presidential candidate, helped push Boehner out of office. Conservatives rallied opposition to Planned Parenthood after secretly recorded videos showed officials for the family planning organization discussing the use of fetal tissue for research.

Boehner decided to resign after conservatives threatened to oust him for refusing to engage in a protracted fight that could have resulted in a shutdown.

Hoping to avoid a similar outcome and unite the fractious GOP majority, Ryan vowed to change the culture of House leadership, mainly by meeting the Republican lawmakers’ demands to be more involved in the decision-making process.

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