Senate Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott are planning unveil an SCHIP bill today that will look and sound familiar. That’s because it’s the one McConnell and Lott peddled earlier this year. It flopped then and it’s likely to flop now. So why waste the time?

In the aftermath of President Bush’s veto of the $35-billion expansion of SCHIP yesterday, congressional Republicans talked a good game, but now that it’s time to act, Senate GOP leaders appear hesitant to embrace an alternative that would have a realistic chance of bringing lawmakers to the table to negotiate.

For months, such a plan didn’t exist. The one offered by McConnell and Lott is basically an extension of SCHIP as it currently exists with a few other changes. It may have sailed through in a Republican-controlled Congress but stands no chance of passing today. By offering their bill again, McConnell and Lott have chosen to stick their heads in the sand and pretend SCHIP will just go away. At a time when Republicans should be looking for ways to bring their own into the fold — namely Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) — their leadership is showing no effort to do so.

What’s so sad is that after months without a viable alternative, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) has legislation to fill that void. Martinez’s plan offers tax credits to families who fall between 200% and 300% of the federal poverty level. It’s a way to satisfy concerns from conservatives about government-run health care and it appeases liberals who want to make sure more families get help for health insurance.

Although McConnell and Lott have decided to ignore it, House Republicans appear headed in the opposite direction. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), ranking member on the Energy & Commerce Committee, is working on the plan with Martinez. When I asked Minority Leader John Boehner about it yesterday, he was familiar with the details of the plan and suggested Republicans could move in that direction.

I’ve had a briefing on the Martinez bill, and clearly something like that is of interest to us. And as we get through the next several days of this fight, there may be further steps that we’ll take.

If Republicans stand any shot of prevailing in the fight over SCHIP, they need to have a viable alternative. The Martinez plan appears to be their best bet.