Obama, Congress to Talk Immigration

It’s like all those last-minute group study sessions before finals—except President Obama is hoping this one will get results. The president on Tuesday will meet with bipartisan leaders from both houses of Congress (and Vice President Biden, of course) to discuss the sweeping immigration-reform bill that Obama hopes will be passed before the summer recess. Things could get tense: on Monday Obama told business leaders that the situation on immigration had reached a “critical point” and he urged it to be brought to the floor as Senate leaders seek to get 70 votes, which would force the House to advance the bill. Obama also hopes to discuss federal-student-loan rates, and the president has pressured Congress to avoid a looming hike that could cause the interest rate on subsidized federal Stafford loans to rise from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.