Obama to business leaders: immigration reform can pass before year’s end

President Obama said Tuesday that he and top business leaders were looking to ease the political lift on immigration reform for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

{mosads}”The politics are challenging for the Speaker and others, and we want to make it as easy for him as possible,” Obama said. “This is not an issue where we’re looking for a political win.”

The president’s remarks came ahead of a meeting with top corporate leaders, including the CEOs of McDonalds, Marriott, and State Farm, in a bid to rally corporate pressure for action in the House.

Obama noted there had been “some resistance from House Republicans” to immigration legislation, but said he wanted to “continue to amplify this issue in the coming weeks.”

“There’s no reason why we can’t get this done before the end of the year,” Obama said.

“And I continue to be hopeful that with the leadership of many who are around this table who represent hundreds of thousands of employees and billions of dollars of assets, who are important in their communities all across the country, them joining up with law enforcement, clergy, citizens, to make the case that ultimately folks up on Capitol Hill will do the right thing.”

Attendees at the meeting included McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, Blackstone co-founder Stephen Schwarzman, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, State Farm CEO Edward Rust, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, Deloitte CEO Joe Exhvarria, Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown, and Evercore Partners founder Roger Altman.

Read more on The Hill.