Immigration Measures Face Uncertain Fate : Congress: The Mideast and budget crises have put the issue on the back burner. Supporters are lobbying for a vote before lawmakers adjourn.

Backers of legislation that could allow up to twice as many legal immigrants into the United States now are conceding that momentum has shifted away from passage, as Washington lawmakers rush to wind up the session with far too many issues still on their agenda.

The complicated immigration package seemed likely to become law a short time ago.

“Two weeks ago we were so optimistic that we’d finally get our bill passed,” said Steve Moore of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a Washington think tank that favors increasing the legal limits on immigration. “The big problem now is that the Middle East crisis and the budget have pushed domestic issues aside.”

The current immigration bill cleared the Senate last year on a vote of 87 to 17. A House version passed the Judiciary Committee in August and awaits debate and a floor vote.

Both the Senate and House bills would raise the number of visas granted annually to immigrants. The Senate-passed bill would raise the current visa allocation limit from about 540,000 a year to 630,000 a year and create a new category of visas for those with skills and education in demand by U.S. employers. The House version is more generous, allowing about 800,000 visas annually over the next decade. But it would require employers to train and hire more U.S. workers before receiving permission to hire foreign workers.

The Bush Administration supports the Senate bill and has said that it would veto the House version. Opponents of the bill contend that the legislation would displace American workers.

In an effort to regain congressional attention for the bill, the legislation’s supporters have tried without success to give some urgency to the issue.

Some 200 Latino students, primarily from California, Illinois and New York, are now in Washington to lobby members of Congress. Several groups of social scientists and scholars are passing around thick position papers arguing the economic benefit of increased immigration. Local newspaper opinion pages are carrying letters from activists calling for passage of the bills.

And, today, a group of pro-immigration officials--including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Palo Alto) and Raymond Flynn, Boston’s Democratic mayor--plan a news conference to urge House passage of the measure before the session ends.

“There’s no hidden agenda here,” Moore said. “We want to see immigration reform passed this year. And we have to work very hard in the time we have left.”