Obama Cozies Up with CEOs to Lobby Congress for Amnesty

Special interest groups and corporate CEOs met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday to craft a strategy by which they hope to make granting amnesty to America’s at least 11 million illegal aliens “easy” for House Speaker John Boehner.

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

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

Corporate executives Obama met with include 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 Echevarria, Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown, and Evercore Partners founder Roger Altman.

According to The Hill, White House advisers Valerie Jarrett, Cecilia Munoz, Gene Sperling, and Miguel Rodriguez “sat in on the meeting” as well. 

Obama also claimed during the meeting that there was “strong bipartisan support” for amnesty because former President George W. Bush “supported the undertaking.”

“We have a fascinating cross-section of people — some unlikely bedfellows, some very liberal folks, some very conservative folks — who all believe that now is the time to get this done,” Obama said.

Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), said it is unseemly what Obama is doing on behalf of special interests. “How can the White House justify a plan to double the number of guest workers, and triple the number of green cards, when a record number of Americans are out of work?” Miller said. “This plan will lower wages at a time when millions are barely able to get by. It is special interest politics at its worst.”