“If what we hear is as good as it sounds, it’s the makings of a deal,” says Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America’s Voice, a pro-immigration group…

Of the five bills that have passed out of committee so far, only one has bipartisan support. It covers border security, and came from the Homeland Security committee. The other four received only Republican support in the Judiciary committee. Democrats say Republicans were more interested in getting GOP unity and deliberately wrote the bills in a way that Democrats could not support them. For example, Sharry says a bill on agricultural workers creates a “newfangled bracero program” as opposed to balancing industry and worker rights like the senate bill does. The other bills from the Judiciary committee cover internal security, a mandatory e-verify program and visas for high-skilled workers.

Speaker Boehner’s intentions are key. Because of Tea Party opposition, most observers figured if Boehner went ahead with immigration reform, it would be his last hurrah, and he would be forced to resign as Speaker. But that narrative could be changing. In the final days of last year’s Congress, Boehner spoke for a lot of Republicans when he said he had had enough with being led around by the Tea Party and their fundraising benefactors.