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Immigration reform is one of the most divisive issues in Congress right now, but for bills favoring high-skilled immigrants, there may be some hope. Senators introduced two bills this week to increase and streamline high-skilled immigration, and the sponsors say theyre optimistic about their prospects.

Measures to expand immigration channels for high-skilled workers, particularly in the tech industry, have long enjoyed bipartisan support but have fallen victim to the thornier politics of comprehensive reform. Passing the bills separately could be a win for business interests that want skilled labor and signal some progress on immigration from Congress. But detaching them from a comprehensive bill might dim the chances for legislation on more polarizing issues, like pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

The Immigration Innovation Act, also known as I-Squared, was introduced Tuesday in the Senate by a bipartisan group of six including Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The bill would drastically expand the number of available visas for temporary high-skilled workers, raising the existing cap of 65,000 to 115,000, with room to expand up to 195,000 under certain circumstances. The proposal also exempts some categories of immigrants from the quota for employment-based green cards, effectively doubling the number of those available visas.

A separate bill called the Startup Act, backed by six senators including Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Mark Warner, D-Va., would create a new type of visa for entrepreneurs looking to start companies in the United States.

Neither bill is a new proposal; various versions of them have cropped up in Congress before. But reform of the high-skilled immigration process has usually been attached to broader legislation as a sweetener for lawmakers to pass it.

Now the new Republican-dominated Congress seems more inclined to implement piecemeal reform, rather than a sweeping comprehensive bill. Just because we cant do everything doesnt mean we cant do some things, Moran told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. In my view, Congress makes a mistake when it tries to do everything in one piece of legislation.

Immigration is a particularly sore subject in Congress right now, as House Republicans voted Wednesday to defund President Barack Obamas executive action granting deportation relief to some 4 million undocumented immigrants. The House also narrowly passed a bill to undo deportation relief for undocumented childhood arrivals under the president's 2012 executive order. Passing measures for high-skilled immigrants would give the Republicans something to point to when accused of blocking any immigration reform.

Not all Republicans are on board, however. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., released an immigration handbook Tuesday that outlined arguments against increasing temporary high-skilled worker visas. It is understandable why these corporations push for legislation that will flood the labor market and keep pay low; what is not understandable is why we would ever consider advancing legislation that provides jobs for the citizens of other countries at the expense of our own, he wrote.

Nevertheless, analysts say the bills have a strong chance of passing both houses. Congress seems much more amenable to high-skilled reform than they were before, said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. Republicans have been on board with expanding high-skilled immigration for a very long time. Now that they control the Senate, they can control the discussion on that, and theyre going to push for more liberalization of the system than they would have gotten in a mixed Congress.

But Obama and some Democrats in Congress have championed comprehensive immigration legislation, and its unclear whether the president would sign these measures on their own. Obama said that he is amenable to some piecemeal bills that are sent up to him, but hes been decidedly less enthusiastic about that compared to a comprehensive bill, Nowrasteh said.

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Immigration Reform 2015: High Hopes For High-Skilled Immigration Reform, Even As Congress Battles Obama

Washington House Republicans vented their anger at President Obama Wednesday by denying him the funds he needs to carry out his executive immigration action.

But will that be the epitaph for immigration reform during the Obama years?

To hardliners like Rep. Steve King (R) of Iowa, yes. But some more moderate Republicans still see a glimmer of hope for moving forward on immigration reform not as a single, comprehensive bill but on smaller pieces that could get bipartisan support.

The template for that would be Decembers vote to fund most of the federal government through September, says Rep. Tom Cole (R) of Oklahoma. The bill passed with the support of roughly two-thirds of Republicans and one-third of Democrats, sidelining dozens of hard-line conservatives.

"That's the only formula thats really going to work in this situation," said Representative Cole, a close ally of the speaker, in an interview with the Monitor. Ditto for any other major reforms that Congress might tackle in the next two years, he adds.

It might not work. An attempt by House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio to move immigration reform forward last year never even got past the discussion stage. But the situation might be different this time. Not only can House Republicans count on the GOP-controlled Senate as an ally, but Republicans' need to woo Hispanic voters ahead of the 2016 presidential elections could shift the political calculus.

"John Boehner has made no secret of the fact that he wants us to attack this problem," Cole says, but first, "you've got to let him play out his hand."

That meant moving forward with the effort Wednesday by House Republicans to block funding for Mr. Obama's executive action, which was attached to a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. It now moves to the GOP-controlled Senate but it is highly unlikely to survive a Democratic filibuster there. The White House also has threatened a veto.

The Houses move "is primarily a reaction to the president, whom we think is overreaching, and were going to have this fight," Cole says.

But his eye is already on areas of potential agreement among some Republicans, Democrats, and the White House, such as better border security, more high-tech visas, as well as a seasonal program for agricultural workers, which especially affects Republican districts.

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House GOP blocks Obama immigration plan, but there's an asterisk (+video)

Isabel Aguilar, right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill about immigration reform. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

A fresh clash between the House of Representatives and the White House over immigration reform has thrown future funding for the Department of Homeland Security into doubt, including funding for counter-terrorism programs.

Despite heightened security fears following attacks in Paris, Republicans placed themselves on a collision course with Barack Obama by passing five amendments to the homeland security budget that the White House has already said it would refuse to sign if they are attached.

Existing funding for the department expires at the end of February, after Congress separated it from the rest of the annual federal budget to give critics of immigration reform a chance to hitch their cause to what was seen as a must-pass legislation once Republicans took full control of both chambers.

But since then, terror attacks in France and Australia have raised the stakes by threatening to disrupt security funding at a time of high alert. The US State Department last week issued a worldwide caution that US citizens were at risk.

The White House, however, has shown no sign of being willing to blink in its standoff with Republicans over immigration.

The administration strongly opposes the addition of any amendments to the legislation that would place restrictions on the departments ability to set smart enforcement priorities focused on criminals, national security threats, and recent border crossers, hold undocumented immigrants accountable, and modernise the legal immigration system, said a White House policy statement on 12 January.

If presented to the president with objectionable restrictions, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto this bill.

Despite this, the Republican-controlled House passed five amendments on Wednesday morning by clear margins, including measures that would not just defund the presidents recent executive actions on undocumented adult migrants, but also unpick his earlier action on so-called dreamers, the US-raised children of such migrants.

Democrats slammed the tactic during debates leading up to the vote, claiming it was holding national security to ransom in pursuit of an entirely unrelated issue.

Read more:
Republicans offer Obama choice between immigration reform and counter-terror funding

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Watch: President Obama announces sweeping immigration reform
President Barack Obama is telling the American people that the time to change the nation #39;s immigration system is now, and he #39;s taking action to make that hap.

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Watch: President Obama announces sweeping immigration reform - Video