show, too. there is a very funny person who is going to be the first guest. >> brian: it might change your life, 'cause it changed so many others. >> steve: that's it for today. see you back here tomorrow. same time, same channel. so long, everybody. >> brian: same outfits. bill: big morning here. good morning after the labor day weekend, making the case for war. at this hour president obama sits down with leaders of congress at the white house selling his case for a military strike on syria. i'm bill hemmer. hope you had a terrific weekend. welcome to "america's newsroom." we have plenty to talk about. martha: we sure do, bill. welcome to everybody at home. i'm martha maccallum. it would be up to the lawmakers it would appear. 9:45 the president will meet with key congressional leaders at the white house apparently to try to sell them on his missile plan. 11:30, all members congress will get a classified briefing. they will be shown documents on

the situation in syria. at 2:30 it will be back to these gentlemen, secretary of state john kerry, and defense secretary chuck hagel and joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey will testify before the senate foreign relations committee and try to convince them apparently. bill: back in damascus, bashar assad remains defy and. he is warning that the middle east is a powder keg and the u.s. strike could set off that powder keg. peter doocy starts the coverage live on capitol hill. there will be a lot of action there as well. what are the cabinet officials hoping to accomplish there today on capitol hill, peter. >> reporter: bill, they're salesmen today. they're trying to make president obama's case for military action against the assad regime. today little less than one week before congress officially returns from recess that is a hard sell. we know that, because there was a members only briefing where democrats from the house and senate saw classified intelligence and afterwards the

room was split 50/50 with half in favor and half opposing military action in syria. that is according to one democratic congresswoman who was there. there are also many lawmakers who have major issues with the resolution the white house sent over that would authorize force against assad. they think it gives president obama too much flexibility to do whatever he wants once action is taken. so today the highest ranking officials from the pentagon and state department are coming here. that is secretary of state john kerry, defense secretary chuck hagel, and the chairman of the joint chiefs martin dempsey and this is what they need to lay out. the. >> you about we do want an articulation of a goal that over time will degrade bashar assad capabilities, increase and upgrade the capabilities of the free syrian army and the free syrian government so that they can reverse the momentum on the

battlefield that is presently not in their favor because they have not receive assistance that they need. >> reporter: mccain and another senator, republican lindsey graham met with the president at the white house yesterday and afterwards graham said we're basically in a proxy war with iran and if we don't act against assad now then iran will not take us seriously when we tell them to stop with their nuclear weapons program. bill: to be clear about mccain and graham, they want a major strike against assad. tell us about the lawmakers meeting in the white house this morning, peter. >> reporter: bill, those meetings will happen within this hour, they will begin within this hour and it will be with the president and the top republican and the top democrat from some key congressional committees like armed services and intelligence and foreign affairs because when the resolution to authorize the use of force in syria comes to a vote here in congress president obama wants it to pass. so he is making the case today in person on his home court.

we'll know how the meetings went, bill, by lunchtime. bill: thank you. peter doocy leads our coverage there. he is on capitol hill. martha has more here in new york. martha: this has a lot of folks asking how did we get here? back in april of 2011 the u.s. slapped sanctions on syria's intelligence agency in washington's first response to a crackdown on antigovernment protesters. that was happening throughout so many of the countries in this region during the arab spring. then you go to july of last year. syria says it could use chemical weapons in response to any, quote, external aggression. but promised that it would not be used on opposition forces. a month later president obama warned assad that the use of chemical weapons in his mind would be a red line that should not be crossed in terms of the u.s. response. then you go forward to march of 2013. syria's government and the rebels accuse each other of

launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of aleppo. go to august 21st, syria's opposition accuses government forces of gassing hundreds of people near today mass curbs killing men, women and children as they slept. we have seen horrific images and photographs that have come back from that attack. now you go to this past saturday. the president said he authorized the use of military force but then said he would first seek congressional approval for this. inside syria, the regime remains defiant today. president bashar assad saying foreign intervention could set off a massive war, a powder keg as we heard it termed in the middle east. the syrian strong man using that delay in action apparently to move things around and get ready for that. conor powell is live in jerusalem. conor, the assad regime is not just waiting. they are preparing clearly because they have extended time now for these attacks.

>> reporter: martha there were report as few days ago that the syrian military was moving military equipment around the country preparing for some type of u.s. military strike. keep in mind the assad regime is fighting a civil war for 2 1/2 years. they have long had to take precautions against their military arsenal. in some ways they have dug in against the syrian opposition. the u.s. strike, they're not moving things all around the country but taking precautions against u.s. tomahawk missiles and other things, a different type of warfare they have already been experiencing. assad is mounting a public relations war past few days, that a telling french newspaper that a u.s. strike would set off a regional war and the u.s. attack would only help al qaeda, who at this point up a significant part of the u.s. opposition. that is the biggest reason why the u.s. government is so concerned about launching a strike against assad because they fear it will help al qaeda rebels who are assad's main enemy. there are two enemies.

but the u.s. government thinks assad is the bigger enemy because of use of chemical weapons, martha. martha: so somely indicated because of factions within the opposition. we got news a little while ago, conor, there was an israeli missile test and a lot of questions whether or not the united states participated in that. >> reporter: well the tensions here remain high in this entire region. russia earlier today they detected missiles being launched in the eastern mediterranean area. israel say this was a test they did jointly with the united states. that this was not any type of attack or anything like that. the pentagon has not acknowledged this test but israel is saying it was part of a scheduled test to sort of align their radar systems with the united states. this is something that does happen regularly in this part of the world but not everyone here will see it that way, martha. it seems like it could be seen as sabre rattling in part of the world by israelis. they said this is part after

test. the u.s. not actually commenting on it though, martha. martha: we'll see. if we hear more from the pentagon. thank you very much. big questions this morning about this man. who is bashar assad. the syrian president's family has ruled the country with an iron fist back since 1970. he studied to be a doctor. he succeeded his father upon his death in 2000. more than 70% of the syria's population has lived under the assad family their entire lives. this is all they know and that raises a lot of questions where the country goes from here. bill's got more for us. bill: a lot of that fight something defend the family and history there. mart that, what with this map we divided into three different colors to show the different sides fighting for the past 2 1/2 years. the yellow represents the assad regime, from damascus the capitol, up through homs, predominantly wide area in the middle part of the country.

light area is rebels. up around aleppo and up to the desert region that stretches into turkey and into iraq. the dark green you see, that would represent, foreign fighters, al qaeda elements that came into syria since the conflict began. more on that in a moment. a wider version of the geography of the region shows you this, this is syria surrounded by turkey, iraq, lebanon and israel to the southwest. in the eastern mediterranean you have these five to six, half dozen u.s. naval warships that could be equipped with tomahawk missiles, if the order is given, okay from congress comes through if the president, commander-in-chief says it is time to hit syria, that is where we believe many of the tomahawk missiles would be led and carried out through the eastern mediterranean. the part about the foreign fighters, a lot of experts tell us they're given too much credit about their capability inside syria today. they may get stronger in time

but for the moment they're not. and the rebels would be stronger than the foreign fighters today there. martha: when you look back at it, it was back in june that ben rhodes said we were going to be really begin to give support to the opposition forces. we identified which part of the opposition we wanted to back and yet we have learned nothing about what happened after that statement that came from ben rhodes and nothing about how much or what kind of support we have given them other than the fact it is said to have been non-lethal. that has raise ad lot of questions with a lot of people here who have been watching the situation closely. so we're just getting started there is so much to look at this morning. supporters of u.s. military action in syria are warning that the say the cost of doing nothing would be catastrophic. watch this. >> i'm saying that i think the president made sense in a lot of things he had to say but we're a long way from achieving what i think would be the most effective strategy.

martha: so if you don't have john mccain on your side in terms of a military plan then you've got a long haul and a big lift in congress. what if congress says no? our panel is going to take that on moments away. bill: also there are 40,000 union members cutting ties with the afl-cio and they cite obamacare as the main reason. it is not because they think the law goes too far. we'll explain this. martha: the white house, some would say is sort of spinning like a top on the new health care law at this point. how one staffer turn ad 20% hike in costs into a 20% savings. we'll take a closer look at the numbers on that. very intriguing. that is coming up.

martha: so after years of delays and more than $6 billion the new eastern span of the san francisco-oakland bay bridge officially opened for business. wow, that took a a long time. the first drivers lined up.

the bridge was under construction for almost a decade due to political wrangling and cost overruns. they finally did it. nicely done. bill: this is camera picture where we expect to see leading members of congress as reid, pelosi, boehner head into the white house for many meetings throughout the week, starting with the president bushing for a strike on syria. as president obama goes to congress for approval on a hit on damascus, there are new questions whether or not the commander-in-chief and referring to lawmakers could weaken the white house going for war. is this something his predecessors would have done? john bolton served as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. under president george w. bush. fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: i know you're not happy with this decision. when you, when you defer to 535 members of congress it's a lot more difficult and a lot more inefficient to get a decision. where are you on that? >> well i would not have referred the matter to congress and i think if i were a member of congress i would vote against

an authorization to use force here. i don't think it is in america's interest. i don't think we should in effect take sides in the syrian conflict. there's very little to recommend either side to me and i think the notion that a limited strike which is what the president seems to be pursuing will not create a deterrent effect with respect to either to syria's use of chemical weapons or more seriously, iran's nuclear weapons program. so all in all, since i don't see any utility to, to the use of military force in syria in this context, i would vote no. now the argument that the administration makes is the president's committed us here. it will cause a huge blow to america's credibility if congress doesn't approve the use of force and i would say, huge blow to america's credibility compared to what? compared to the mess the president's already made of it? i just don't think there's a convincing argument here and frankly it doesn't matter what the intelligence shows. i don't think there is any doubt

that assad's regime used chemical weapons. i don't think that will change anybody's mind. bill: come back to the whole issue of congress because the white house would argue their hand is stronger if they get approval from republicans and democrats going forward. however, you look at the number of times the president has bypassed congress on big issues. here's a list. top 20 i list a few. the dream act. obamacare waivers. obamacare employer mained date delay that came down. funding to egypt. nsa surveillance. offshore drilling obstruction. list goes on where the president thought it was okay thing to go ahead and bypass congress but in this case he will refer? >> well look, he was prepared, i think, a few days ago to use his constitutional authority to order the use of force against the assad regime in syria and he changed his mind. i would say it is the change of mind as much as anything that sends a terrible signal to iran, to assad, to other proliferators

of weapons of mass destruction. i don't think the president's hand is strengthened. if he wanted a strengthened hand when he first raised the red line last august he should have asked for authorization then. this is purely political calculation but coming back to the members of congress, they have to vote on a policy. if they agree with the use of military force they ought vote in favor. if they're against it they should vote no. that gets to the next question, what exactly is the military force that is going to be used? john mccain came out of the white house says looks like the president is ready to go big. that is not the resolution they're drafting on capitol hill. i think a o lot of members will wait to see what this misbegotten thing comes out the congress actually looks like. bill: what do you think as it stands today? lindsey graham was saying the same thing. after they consulted with the white house yesterday they have further proof that the strike would seriously degrade assad's ability to continue his strikes

against the rebels. now whether or not that legislation looks like that in front of congress is a very good question. what does congress do as you see it today? >> oh, i think they're going to approve some resolution authorizing some use of force. god only knows what it will say but i think the administration will win. i think the white house candy store is open. i think the ideal job to have today is to be a democratic member of congress. what do you need for your district or state? a post office? a new military facility? what do you want? i think anything you want you're going to get because the white house is going to do whatever it takes to get a majority. bill: that means we're hitting syria based on that answer? >> well, maybe. who knows what the president is going to think in about two weeks. bill: but if you give him the authority then he is going to go forward? >> that's what he said on friday. you think, you think he is necessarily going to hold that view in two weeks? i'm not so sure. bill: thank you, ambassador. john bolton there still dubious. we'll check you in the dubious

column today out of washington, sir. talk to you again tomorrow. thank you for your time. >> thank you. bill: 19 past, martha. martha: we're watching all these developments. we're expecting a statement from the state department soon as all angles continue to be weighed in upon with this syria issue. coming up with a decision on military action resting with congress as we were talking about with john bolton, one of the big questions is, what if they say no? what is the president actually going to do if they say no? it happened to david cameron. that now has been backburnerred. let me know what you think. send me a tweet @marthamaccallum. look at this as well. bill: unbelievable, this wall of water, trapping a mother and her baby inside of their suv and they had nowhere to go. ♪

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bill: guess who is back in

north korea? dennis rodman went for another tour. the former nba star arriving for his second visit this year. where do you go on vacation, america? rodman says he is there just to hang out with his buddy kim jong-un. he says the trip has nothing to do with politics. absolutely not. listen. >> basically to come over here not to be a diplomat. to be a friend of the and a country of north korea. show people around the world, we as americans can actually get along with north korea. bill: you might remember the two bonded over basketball over in february. u.s. diplomats criticized the trip and rodman fired back saying, quote, basketball diplomacy could help warm relations between north korea, kim jong-un and president obama. there is no other place to go between chicago and pongyang, martha. if you want to get away, vacation time. martha: being cozy with him didn't work out for his former

girlfriend. coming up also this, america's largest collection of unions just got a little bit smaller. this is a fascinating piece of information this morning. 40,000 members of the international longshore and warehouse union have quit the afl-cio. they say it is just too conservative. the longshoremen decided on differences on health care and immigration reform. steve centanni is in washington. steve, a lot of groups have been disgruntled with the health care plan, their take is quite interesting. what is the latest? >> reporter: at a time labor unions continue to lose membership, this crack appeared in the solid front of afl-cio which is a federation of 57 different unions. in a letter to president richard trumka, dated august 29th, the head of the longshoreman's union said the 40,000 members are cutting ties with the federation. he cite ad history of militant independence on the part of the international long shore men and

warehouse union. in his announcement of the disaffiliation. the letter cites disputes with the afl-cio regarding strikes and picket lines on the west coast but goes on to say, the iowu has also become increasingly frustrated with the federation's moderate, overly compromising policy positions on such important matters as immigration, health care reform and international labor issues. we file the federation does a great disservice for all working people by going along to get along. on health care, president obama campaigned on a platform not taxing medical plans but afl-cio later supported a bill with just such a tax in it. martha? martha: what do they say? what is the afl-cio saying about this split? >> reporter: nothing yet about the letter but trumka, spoke here in washington, the same today that letter was sent and he acknowledged the health care law needs to be tweaked to make it more labor friendly. >>h the administration to find solutions to what i think are inadvertent

holes in the act. when the act was put together, it wasn't thought completely through and so we work on a daily basis. i'm hopeful we'll get something done in very near future. >> reporter: trumka says, it was mistake to take the public option off the table in the health care debate, martha? martha: steve, thank you very much. a lot of unions have been very upset about the disappearance they say of the 40-hour work week. >> reporter: that too. martha: that is their existence. they have been very upset. bill: at first glance you think they are against obamacare but they're only against it because it doesn't go far enough. they want single-payer. did the president sell his case on a military strike on damascus at the white house and on the hill? what happens if at the end of the day congress says no? we'll debate that. martha: plus unfinished business when it comes to the fort hood massacre. why families of the victims say it is so important to them that the government sees this mass shooting as an act of terror.

>> we are not here today for us. we are here today for those soldiers to get back combat status. get the combat benefits, the medical help that they need. that's why we're here today. but let's be ready. ♪ let's do our homework. ♪ let's look out for each other. let's look both ways before crossing. ♪ let's remember what's important. let's be optimistic. but just in case -- let's be ready. let'go places, safely.

bill: all right. here we go. let the meetings begin. leading members of congress arrive at the white house as we speak. that is senate minority leader mitch mcconnell behind the tree heading into the west wing only a moment ago.

martha: you would know him anywhere. bill: i think there are maybe, could be mcconnell and boehner and reid and pelosi several others arriving today. we'll see what happens with the president's sales pitch now for the hit on damascus. martha: only if we could be a fly on the wall for that moot egg we'll know how this will turn out because supporters of a military action are warning that a no vote from congress could severely weaken u.s. credibility overseas. here is senator john mccain on that. >> if the congress were to reject a resolution like this after the president of the united states has already committed to action, the consequences would be catastrophic in that the credibility of this country with friend and and adversaries alike would be, would be shredded and it would be not only implications for this presidency but for future presidencies as well. martha: john mccain. bob beckel joins us now, former democratic campaign manager

co-host of "the five." brad blakeman former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. welcome. very serious stuff here. because the president has said that he will strike, that the country will strike syria. he has also said he will go back to congress for authorization of that. is there any chance, do you think, bob, that he will not get that authorization? >> i would find it, remarkable and, to borrow mccain's word, catastrophic. it is inconceivable to me, that members of congress, i don't care how partisan they are, could sit back, what 1406 people are fasted to death by a -- gassed to death, by a regime and sit back when the united states has capability to do something about it and not do it would be the height of polarization, politicalization, and the worst possible outcome i could think of. martha: brad, you know, it is an awkward situation that members of congress are in because the president has said that as i

said, that we will strike. that a strike will happen. and that he wants their authorization. a lot of people question why he would do done it in that order. here is john boehner for his meeting at the white house as well. given the circumstances do you think the congress members will not give him that authorization? >> i think it is absolutely possible that congress will not and there's a reason for it. as horrific as these gas attacks were, the president got way out of front of something he couldn't back out himself. so what did he do? he punted to congress. after the british by the way totally rebuffed the president and their own prime minister. so the president was put in a box. it is his own doing. and now he comes to congress with the ask for something that, that could be unending. remember, the president's authorization is very vague. it doesn't have an explicit mission. it doesn't have an open and end date. it doesn't have a clear objective. yet the president's rhetoric when he goes on television is,

it will be limited strikes. we will not seek regime change. well, there's a reconciliation that needs to be done by congress as to what the president says and what the president is authorized to do. and that is the conundrum. i think he will have more problem with democrats than he will with republicans. martha: i think brad puts his finger on it. you have the rand paul wing of libertarianists who don't want any part of this. you've got democrats on the left side of that party that don't want any part of this. they don't want to be in another war. that sentiment seems to be very strong, bob. and it raises a lot of questions about, you know, a few months ago i went back and listened to jay carney. assad must go. the president, assad must go. now we've got, assad must not go apparently. so, you can not blame members of congress for not knowing exactly what is going on. >> well, i blame a lot of people for talking about this who don't know what's going on, but having said that i think the liberal wing of the democratic party is showing surprising amount of

support because they see this as a human rights violation, not as an act of war. we're not going to war against syria. if we're going to war against syria it would involve a lot more things including perhaps of use of american military force. martha: bob, let me is you what is the goal? what should the goal be? >> to take out the ability of assad to deliver these weapons of mass destruction by taking out helicopters, by taking out planes. by taking out communications. by taking out those facilities that are necessary for him to deliver these kinds of weapons. martha: to degrade the military capability so -- >> to degrade the military possibility. martha: i understand that where was the outrage with the last 100,000 people who also lost their lives, who also had families weeping over their gives and their bodies? >> there is very big difference between people who die in civil war and those who die with natural gas and natural -- excuse me, with sarin gas. excuse me, that is probably my book can i calling. martha: uh-oh. >> this is, we're talking about poison gas here.

the only other time we've seen that used is by hitler and by saddam hussein. martha: let me point out one thing because this is from ben rhodes back in june, in june, we knew that they were using sarin gas. >> no, we didn't. martha: i can read it. >> you can read it but there was no definitive evidence that was the case. martha: this is june 13. our intelligence community assesses that the assad regime used chemical weapons including the agent sarin on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in last year. we've known about the sarin gas, brad since last june. >> absolutely. not only that but secretary kerry went on all five sunday shows told us he had definitive evidence it was sarin gas but he failed to tell us who delivered the sarin gas. >> you're smarter than that. >> no circumstantial evidence will lead us to believe that it was a syrian government that did it but where is the evidence to show to congress? who are we punishing, bob? >> let's be real here. martha: bob -- >> you and i were both in the white house.

you're one of the more sensible people i know. idea somehow whoever started this ridiculous rhyme more it could have done by the rebels. how will they deliver -- >> where is the evidence, bob? where is the evidence to show congress -- >> delivered by missiles. they have no capability to deliver missiles. >> you do not know that. i do not know that. >> absolutely ridiculous. >> it is not. >> this is the first time we've had on the ground examples of people where we used parts of physical evidence from hair and skin that has shown it is sarin gas. intelligence community's view was that they probably were using sarin gas but that is not enough to do a strike. you had to have that kind of evidence. this kind of massas nation if you want to use any other word. these were military non-combatants we're talking about here. martha: we're going to be talking about this a lot in the next 48 hours. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. martha: bob and his.and brad. >> sorry about that. martha: thank you, gentlemen. see you next time. be sure to visit our brand new

politics page and sign up for daily political newsletter. you will get the political headlines and there are a lot of them right now. foxnewspolitcs.com. bill: that was a rockin' song. more at 5:00. three republican lawmakers out of texas going to their home state saying they are there to right a wrong. reclassifying the fort hood shooting as of course 6 terrorism. nidal hasan was sentenced to death after killing 13 people, wounding dozens of others in 2009. that incident described as workplace violence by u.s. government, stripping families and soldiers of benefits they would have received if they were hurt in combat. >> wheels of justice turned slowly, too slowly for most of us. we've all been reluctant to do anything up to this point that would possibly benefit major hasan's defense. >> this administration's workplace violence designation

clearly favors political correctness over truth and justice. >> it is not a military acknowledgement. it's a human acknowledgement who these people were. bill: a vote on that expected later this year. those are lawmakers from texas fighting for the rights of those and victims that are still living with this you talk to anyone who was there that way, "allahu akbar!" standing over them, that was hasan a man in uniform who shot them. survivors obviously living with this for the rest of their lives. you ask them this is workplace violence. martha: even when they went back to the investigation, communications with awlaki, and number of links make it very clear to a number about folks. all right, remember when nancy pelosi said this? >> but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy. martha: so is the spin on this continuing from the white house and is it in overdrive as some suspect today? how aides tried to turn a double-digit hike in costs into

a story that promoted savings. we're going to show you that. plus this. bill: man, oh, man, with that the five-time u.s. open champion roger federer is out. there will not be a number six this year. knocked out in the fourth round. 19th seed tommy robeto took care of him in three straight sets a lot of tennis left and tournament continues in new york. >> for the first time he is the beats the greatest of all time.

martha: some amazing video of a rescue in nevada in raging floodwaters. an suv was stuck on the rocks. look at this. looks like a movie, right but it was real. stopped from going over the side by only a small tree. two women and a baby were trapped inside the rain rolling in so quickly by the time they found and escape route it was

already too late for them to take it. >> all this stuff started colling down real quick and i was whoa, whoa. >> we turned around and saw that and it's amazing. martha: wow. a fast-acting police officer and a forest ranger trudged through the muddy water as they should and as they always do to rescue those people. bill: mess of stuff, isn't it? the white house is doing some serious spinning selling obamacare. begins with the following tweet linked to an article from a white house staffer saying quote, make good, sorry, more good aca news. 21% savings on premiums for ohio anns who buy their own insurance because of the aca. critics don't mention that the savings come from subsidies paid for by taxpayers. and they say, the white house left out other number crunching from the rand corporation showing that folks in ohio on

average will see a 22% hike in their premiums. millions of americans will have to start buying health insurance on the exchanges in less than 30 days. october 1st, four weeks from today in fact. stephen hayes, senior writer, "weekly standard", fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: the math says, if you get the subsidies you're okay but the subsidies come from taxpayers. if you don't get the subsidies, you're looking at increase of 22.6%, almost 23? what's going on here? >> right. pretty dramatic you can get the numbers to say virtually whatever you want them to say and this is obviously the white house trying to spin these numbers in a way that suggests that people are really going to see savings. nobody is going to see savings. what this study shows in fact there will be overall premium increase of some 23%, almost 23%. the people who are he will babble for subsidies will get a reduction on that projected

increase of 21% which leaves them still with a net increase and those who don't get the subsidies will see those premiums increase by the full 23%. bill: so where do you get the money? jim angle did a story couple days ago. pj rourke said if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it is free. >> classic pj. look, the white house is grasping at this point at any good news it can use to try to sell what i think most people recognize as a coming challenge or coming disaster potentially the white house is hearing this not only from republicans on capitol hill and others who are predicting doom for obamacare or at least major troubles they're also hearing it from inside their own bureaucracies at hhs, treasury, irs. you have bureaucrats in charge of these programs, administering these programs and writing regulation who is are telling stakeholders in meetings, in effect, we don't know how this will be implemented. this is going to be trouble. bill: rand did the study and

economist for rand concluded that average premium for individual policies in ohio would actually rise by $900 or 22.56%. put that with the amount of waivers and adjustments this law has made already. on the screen. medicare cuts delayed. employer mandate delayed. subsidy verification delayed. out-of-pocket caps delayed. you have 2,000 business an unions with a waiver. you have got congress with a waiver to get subsidies for them. to cover the cost when they go into the exchange. and they'retheir leading aides. >> yeah. bill: what happened to this law in the past three years? >> some people would say it is precisely what skeptics of the law suggested would happen with the law. it is unworkable. it will not be able to be implemented in timely fashion. once it is implemented there will be tremendous problems with those charged with carrying it out. i think there are two real problems with the law as it stand today. one is this lawlessness you're

seeing. sort of declaration by the president he can delay employer mandate, verification difficulties that that presents. and then secondly the questions of implementation. the white house can spin these premium numbers as much as they want but ultimately when the law is implemented if it is implemented as we think it will be people will see the differences. white house will not spin it if people are paying more for health insurance. bill: that is fact, the white house saying there will be bumps in the road when you roll out something this large but you're about to see how large these bumps will be. >> i suspect people paying $900 in premium will see that as more than bumps in the road. bill: as a man from ohio i can tell that you will get attention. email to hemmer@foxnews.com or follow me on twitter @billhemmer because you asked. bya, just need one line to find out what is on your mind today. thank you, steve. martha. martha: as the violence rage as refugee crisis is brewing in

syria as some two million syrians is the latest estimate stream across-the-boarder. another one every 15 seconds as they head into neighboring countries. we're live on the ground with their story. bill: another air scare. a plane packed with passengers forced to make an emergency landing. what caused all this trouble. >> i saw flashes out the window. people were saying oh, my gosh, it was on fire. it was on fire. >> it was very scary. >> we were a third of the way down on the runway and all of sudden inch he hear a boom. >> you hear, womp, womp. heart healthy, huh?! ugh! actually progresso's soup has pretty bold flavor. i love bold flavors! i'd love it if you'd open the chute! [ male announcer ] progresso. surprisingly bold flavor

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bill: want to take you out to northern california because you have a traffic jam on your hand now, on a day with the new bay bridge span opened. martha: ugly. bill: you had years of delays and $6 billion spent but this is the new eastern span of the bay

bridge that connects oakland with san francisco and vice versa. the first drivers lined up late last night and they're still out there today because there is nowhere to go. martha: labor day traffic yesterday. all right, the u.n. refugee chief calling the situation in syria the great humanitarian tragedy of the century. the numbers that we're seeing now more than two million people have had to leave syria to get away from the fighting. many of them of course poured across the boarder into lebanon which is ill-equipped to deal with so many refugees. we're told at least half a million of of the refugees are children. greg palkot is back from one border town where the population has doubled due to the wave of refugees. he is streaming live from beirut. greg. bill: what did you see there? >> reporter: martha, these are the real victims of the syrian crisis. men, women and as you noted to a large degree children, forced to leave their home, their lives

due to the fighting and started here. it doesn't get too much worse than this. take a look what we saw today. there are no massive organized syrian refugee camps here in lebanon. rows and rows of makeshift huts like these. no plumbing, no running water, barely any electricity. no way to live. the government estimates there are million refugees here. with a population of four million the country is bursting at the seems. they have left one hello of war with another. we were extended families living in crude shelters. abandoned vehicles. even card bored boxes. unhealthy conditions. sewer and garbage in the gutters. government for policy, funding organizational reasons is not providing enough. international aid groups are stepping in and they don't have resources. due to tensions this past week inside syria thousands more have come into this country adding to tensions here i might add among

the local community. problems all around, martha. martha: boy, you look at those living conditions and those beautiful children. some of them, even able to crack a bit of a smile as they're getting some attention from the camera there but this is a human tragedy. and what do they think of the possibility of us air strikes? what is their response? >> reporter: martha, we have a range of opinion from those we were talking to. some in fact, didn't want to say anything about a possible u.s. military intervention against the forces of bashar assad they are just too shell-shocked. one person we spoke to he has seen enough fighting an combat. he doesn't want to see anybody hitting anyone. others said they welcomed it, one courage had to say pretty strong things against the syrian leader. take a listen. >> no to bashar assad. he is a criminal. he is is a killer.

>> translator: what have i done to deserve all this? martha: good question of that man. greg palkot, thanks to him in beirut, lebanon this morning. bill: congress is now being asked by the president to go to war. thousands of presentations. and one hard earned partnership. it took a loof work to get this far. so now i'm supposed to take a back seat when it come to my investments? there's zero chance of that happening. avo: when you work with a hwab financial consultant, yoll get the guidance you need with the control you want. talk to us today.

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martha: a fox news alert, to the white house now where congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle have been meeting just moment ago with the president. this is another step in the administration's aggressive push to get a deeply-divided congress to approve military strikes in syria, the president saying that he believes that an act to strike would, indeed, degrade assad's ability with chemical weapons as we start a brand new hour in "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer, good morning at home, and the other thing he said, apparently, during this meeting is he is confident congress will vote in favor of military action in syria. house speaker john boehner,

democratic leader nancy pelosi along with mitch mcconnell and other top members of key house and senate committees all at the white house earlier today. this is a critical meeting for the president, and these are the people he needs to convince so they will go to their colleagues on the hill and stand behind him. there is so much at stake on the line here. ambassador john bolton earlier today in "america's newsroom" framed it this way: >> if i were a member of congress, i would vote against an authorization to use force here. i don't think it's in america's interests, i don't think we should, in effect, take sides in the syrian conflict. there's very little to recommend either side to me, and i think the notion that a limited strike which is what the president seems to be pursuing will not create a deterrent effect with respect either to syria's use of chemical weapons or, more seriously, iran's nuclear weapons program. martha: molly henneberg live at the white house watching all of this action play out this morning. what kind of reception do you think the president got, and how long did this meeting seem to

last, molly? >> reporter: hi, martha. a skeptical reception, is what he likely got from members of congress in that meeting. we heard from them before they were going in, you know, in the days before this meeting, we heard from them over the weekend, and there's a lot of skepticism on both sides of the aisle on whether the u.s. can afford militaryically, fiscally to get involved and whether the president will be able to carry out a limited, short military strike as he promises to do. here's more. >> nobody wants to have a slippery slope. i'm not for boots on the ground, i'm not for leading us into a war, but i do think for us to stand by and be silent when these acts of atrocities are being committed sends the wrong word to every thug all across the globe. >> it may sound real easy when people like secretary kerry say it's going to be quick, and we're going to go in, we're going to send a few cruise missiles, wash our hands and go

home. it doesn't work that way. this could be a war in the middle east, it's serious, and you've got to realize what this president has done to this military. our military's so degraded now. >> reporter: president obama leaves town this evening, he'll head to sweden and then the g20 summit in russia but, of course, he'll be working the phones to lawmakers during this trip. ck in june the administration said they would begin nonlethal aid to the opposition, that a they felt there was a need to step up aid to the opposition back in june. there are some reports that that never happened. is there any word on whether or not they're planning to bolster them in any way at this point? >> reporter: martha, the white house has not confirmed it, but if you talk to republican senator john mccain who met with president obama at the white house yesterday, senator mccain believes president obama has sort of changed his thoughts, changed his thinking, changed his mind on this, and he believes the president now will send weapons to the opposition. here's more. >> i've been so disappointed and

angry because, as you know, i've been in syria. i know the free syrian army. they're brave people, and they're being massacred by arms that are flowing in by air from their sponsor, iran and russia, and it's an unfair fight. >> reporter: the white house says the obama administration has been sending support to the syrian opposition since a different chemical weapons attack earlier this year, but apparently that support did not include arms. senator mccabe, though, say -- mccain, though, says that may be changing. martha? martha: molly, thank you so much, from the white house. bill: we're getting information about what transpired from this meeting with the president and members of congress, about 16 of them went in at 9:0, it was not a long meeting, wrapped up in about 15 or 20 minutes. the president is willing to be negotiable in stating the range for what an attack could be. there was a paper that went out over the weekend that is really just a framework for congress from which they can work to define it on tear terms or what

they would consider for a strike against damascus. but the president says that he's looking for a prompt vote from congress. he's also saying that a broader strategy to allow upgrading of help to the syrian opposition is something he would approve. in addition to that, he says that military action in syria would degrade, according to his plan, assad's ability to use chemical weapons. that would, obviously, be the target there. martha: it sounds like they are looking to degrade assad's ability and to upgrade the opposition. a lot of people say, well, how do you know when you've reached that goal is one of the big questions raised by all of this. and it appears -- and now we've got a look at what happened in that meeting. let's listen. >> i want to thank the leaders of both parties for being here today to discuss what is a very serious issue facing the united states. and the fact that i've had a chance to speak to many of you

and congress as a whole is taking this issue with the soberness and seriousness that it deserves is greatly appreciated. and i think vindicates the decision for us to present this issue to congress. as i've said last week, as secretary kerry made clear in his presentation last week, we have high confidence that syria used in an indiscriminate fashion chemical weapons that killed thousands of people including over 400 children, and in direct violation of the international norm against using chemical weapons. that poses a serious national security threat to the united states and to the region. and as a consequence, assad and syria needs to be held accountable. i've made a decision that america should take action, but i also believe that we will be

much more effective, we will be stronger if we take action together as one nation. and so this gives us an opportunity not only to present the evidence to all of the leading members of congress and the various foreign policy committees as to why we have high confidence that chemical weapons were used and that assad used them, but it also gives us an opportunity to discuss why it's so important that he be held to account. this norm against using chemical weapons that 98% of the world agrees to is there for a reason, because we recognize that there are certain weapons that, when used, cannot only end up resulting in grotesque death, but also can end up being transmitted to nonstate actors, can pose a risk to allies and friends of ours like israel,

like jordan, like turkey, and unless we hold them into account also sends a message that international norms around issues like nuclear proliferation don't mean much. and so i'm going to be working with congress. we have sent up a draft authorization. we're going to be asking for hearings and a prompt vote, and i'm very appreciative that everybody here has already begun to schedule hearings and intends to take a vote as soon as all of congress comes back early next week. so the key point that i want to emphasize to the american people, the military plan that has been developed by our joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional, it is limited, it does not involve boots on the ground. this is not iraq and this is not afghanistan. this is a limited, proportional

step that will send a clear message not only to the assad regime, but also to other countries that may be interested in testing some of these international norms that there are consequences. it gives us the ability to degrade assad's capabilities when it comes to chemical weapons. it also fits into a broader strategy that we have to make sure that we can bring about, other time, the kind of strengthening of the opposition and the diplomatic and economic and political pressure required so that, ultimately, we have a transition that can bring peace and stability not only to syria, but to the region. but i want to emphasize once again what we are end visioning is something limited -- envisioning is something limited, it is manager proportional, it will degrade assad's capabilities. at the same time, we have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition, allow syria

ultimately to free itself from the kinds of terrible civil wars and death and activity that we've been seeing on the ground. so i look forward to listening to the various concerns of the members who are here today. i am confident that those concerns can be addressed. i think it is appropriate that we act deliberately, but i also think everybody recognizes the urgency here and that we're going to have to move relatively quickly. so with that to all of you here today, i look forward to an excellent discussion. >> [inaudible] does that undercut any of your authority, sir? >> you know, i would not be going to congress if i wasn't serious about consultations and believing that by shaping the authorization to make sure we accomplish the mission, we will be more effective. and so long as we are accomplishing what needs to be accomplished which is to send a clear message to assad degrading

his capabilities to use chemical weapons not just now, but also in the future as long as the authorization allows us to do that, you know, i'm confident that we're going to be able to come up with something that hits that mark, all right? >> [inaudible] >> thank you, everybody. bill: five and a half minutes with the president's statement inside the white house, and we believe the meeting has wrapped up, and if it did, in fact, wrap up, that was a quick meeting, a five minute statement followed by a ten minute discussion there at the table. here is the key phrase, a high confidence that chemical weapons were used. america should take action. he's calling for a prompt vote in congress, limited, not boots on the ground can which he has said repeatedly. and the president saying this is not iraq, this is not afghanistan. now the question goes to how difficult of a sell will this be to members of congress. we talked to an ohio republican yesterday, bill johnson, served in the air force for 26, 27 years.

he flew back to washington on sunday afternoon with 81 lawmakers, and he said the president wasn't there, the vice president wasn't there, and the evidence that was presented to him did not convince him that military action was required or necessary based on what he learned. and you wonder whether or not that evidence gets stronger or whether or not the case can be made stronger to members of congress. and this is where the debate now moves from the white house to capitol hill. what is next? martha has that. martha: yeah. a very interesting choice of words. he said that america, he has decided that america should take action. not that america will take action. so some very interesting phrases in the way the president is presenting all of this. brit hume is going to join us in just a couple of minutes. we're going to get his take on the very interesting choice of words the president has used this morning when we come back. before mike could see his banking and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds

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with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf clubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance. martha: so a live look at the white house right now where the meeting with congressional

leaders is still going on. the president saying that he wants to listen to what both sides have to say, although he has said that he believes that the united states should act. here is a little bit of what the president just said moments ago. listen. >> i am going to be working with congress. we have sent up a draft authorization. we're going to be asking for hearings and a prompt vote, and i'm very appreciate tiff that everybody here -- appreciative that everybody here has already begun to schedule hearings and intends to take a vote as soon as all of congress comes back early next week. martha: very interesting. brit hume joins me now, fox news senior political analyst. brit, a lot jumped out as he went through everything that he just said. one of the initial things that jumped out at me is that he had made a decision that america should act but not that america will act. >> will well, mar that, he probably had to say that, because if you're going to ask congress for authority to do something, not a good idea to

suggest ahead of time that you're going to do it anyway -- martha: although he has suggested that. >> well, he's suggested he has the power to do that, and he certainly seemed intent on going ahead without congress. and this -- the truth is constitutionally he has the authority to act. if he chooses to invoke the war powers act which no president has ever accepted as constitutional, a lot of people -- a number of presidents have said they were acting consistent with it, that merely requires some notification and a subsequent vote after a period of time. so he has, under the law, the freedom to do this. and he decided for whatever reasons that he didn't want to do it without congress' sanction, and now he's gone and asked for it, and he seems in no particular hurry to get it despite what he said about prompt. if it were prompt, if he wanted something really prompt, he'd have called them back sometime last week, they'd be in session now, and he'd be pressing ahead with this. as it is, he's got a few leaders in town, the rest of them drift back to town as the week drags on.

martha: they are scheduling hearings which does not smack of anything happening very quickly. he was also very clear to say this is not iraq, this is not afghanistan. this is a president, as we all well remember, who ran on getting us out of iraq and afghanistan, and it appears, brit, that he finds himself in a conflicted position here with all of that. >> whether well, his problem is, of course, that he made a couple of calculations at the beginning of his presidency. one was he would never put it this way, but to some extent he clearly believes that america and its interventions abroad are a big part of what's wrong with the world. and he intended to pull those back, and he intended as well that people in the muslim world in particular by virtue of his mere presence as president of the united states would take a different and fresh look at the united states and relations with these countries in that part of the world would get better and with the peoples in that part of the world would get better. well, clearly, that hasn't happened. but his desire not to intervene

places has been overtaken by events a couple of times, as witness libya where he acted without any effort to get congress onboard ahead of time at all. martha: right. >> so he's shown that he believes that that's legal, and he's shown a willingness to do it in the past. i think he thinks syria is a mess, and he doesn't want to get deeply involved in it, and i think he didn't want to do this. but having said what he said about red lines, he was sort of forced to do something. so now in his own sort of halting way, he's proceeding toward doing something, exactly what remains a bit unclear. martha: i mean, the back and forth that happened over this labor day weekend, i think, is something we're going to be analyzing for some time. now, let's talk about congress because you've got the rand pauls of the senate and the libertarians who don't want any part of this, you've got, you know, democratic liberals who don't want any part of this. do you think -- he seemed to have a lot of confidence this is going to pass. do you think so? >> well, if you look at the senate, the chances are that there are enough john mccains

and lindsey grahams to join with most of the democrats to get a majority for this in the senate. the house, you've got to figure that the president will be able to round up a majority of the democratic caucus. his challenge will be to get enough republicans to create a majority over there. my guess is he'll probably be able to do it. my guess also looking at it at this moment is that the vote could be pretty close, and it won't be easy. but my guess is he can probably get this, and, you know, whether -- then the question becomes whether what he does is effective. remember, martha, he talks about degrading assad's capability with regard to chemical weapons and capabilities in general. he's also talking about giving a hit to the opposition. none of the military aid that was promised however long ago it was -- martha: june. >> -- has yet to reach -- martha: that's right. >> -- the rebels. so there's all kinds of

competence questions that get raised here and a lot to look at. martha: yeah. he's been criticized for not having a broader strategy, and he used those words, i have a broad or strategy, and said that he wants to use that degrading of assad's ability and the upgrading of the opposition's ability to force a transition that would happen over time. boy, brit, that leaves us with a very open definition of what the goal is here. >> well, it does, and it also raises, martha, deeper questions about exactly what his foreign policy is. martha: yeah. >> is it the foreign policy of his intervention in libya? remember, responsibility to protect? i'm not sure that's term, but that was invoked with regard to libya. now we have similar atrocities being performed, being carried out continually. now augmented by this hideous use of chemical weapons, and you have the president sort of vacillating and finally deciding based on what he'd earlier said, a threat he had made that he's got to do something. it appears he doesn't want it to be very much, and whether it will turn the tide of battle in

that war-torn country remains to be seen. martha: brit, thank you very much. we'll see you later. >> you bet. bill: so we're going to talk with a member of the senate who will be at this hearing today. will he vote yes or no? also in a moment, the battle for the debt ceiling. this is battle number two this fall already. if you're looking for help relieving heartburn, caused by acid reflux disease, relief is at hand. for many, nexium provides 24-hour heartburn relief and may be available for just $18 a month. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

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♪ ♪ bill: as we monitor what's happening with the syria situation, there's also a showdown over america's debt. house speaker john boehner promising what he calls a fight in raising the government's borrowing limit, suggesting any deal must be tied to spending cuts. "usa today" he writes: the american people know that washington has a spending problem and that it won't support another increase in the debt limit without meaningful action to reduce spending and reform government. my next guest says this is a high-risk strategy. stephen moore, "wall street

journal," how are you? fox news contributor as well. >> hi, bill. great to be with you. bill: why high risk? >> by the way, we've lived through this, i've been covering in the issue for 25 years, it seems like these kinds of standoffs between the president and congress come up every time we raise the debt ceiling. what the speaker said today was he raised the stakes here a little bit, bill, and he said we will not raise that debt ceiling until we get some concessions from the president for more spending cuts. now, this comes on the heels, bill, of a few weeks ago the president saying he will not negotiate with the republicans on the debt ceiling, so this looks to me a little bit like a mexican standoff right now. bill: okay. the point boehner makes is that every president has done it this way. >> that's right. bill: is he right about that? >> well, it is true at least as long as i've been following this for the last two decades that usually when we raise the debt ceiling, there are some new spending restraints to get the debt you should control. remember, by the way, bill, back

when we were debating in the last time in 2011, we actually -- that's how we got the sequester, tsa how we got the spending caps x. let me say this, that those caps are actually working. you know, we're so much doom and gloom sometimes talking about the budget, a little bit of good news is that the budget has actually fallen as a result of that sequester, and the deficit is going to be half as big as it was three years ago. bill: that may be true, but the cbo will conclude this, this year alone the united states will spend $640 billion more in taxes than it takes in. >> that's right. bill: and you multiply that over the ten years -- [laughter] that's a huge number. that's $6.3 trillion. >> that's right. yeah, you know, it's amazing, i'm calling that progress because we used to be at $1.2 trillion a year in borrowing per year. so it is progress but still, you're right, bill. $640 billion of borrowing a year is almost unfathomably large. so i agree with john boehner. we need to make more progress on bringing this deficit down. but, you know, remember what

happened last time, bill, we went right to the edge, and the stock market fell a little bit -- bill: that is true. >> -- as people got nervous about paying off that debt and whether we would actually honor our debt agreements. bill: what's the deadline now, and do you see that happening? >> we don't know exactly what it is. what we do know is the treasury department has a lot of flexibility in borrowing from other trust funds. so, bill, when that drop dead moment is, we don't know. the treasury secretary said last week it'll be sometime middle to late october, but i'm going to bet it's going to go long beyond that date can. bill: steve, thank you. ing there big issues this fall in this country and abroad. stephen moore, "wall street journal," thank you, sir. >> thanks, bill. martha: back to work in a serious way this morning. the president's meeting with congressional leaders is ongoing right now. next up, secretaries of state and defense john kerry and chuck hagel will answer questions from the senate be foreign relations committee about what to do in

syria. senator jeff flake will tell us what he wants to know in a couple of minutes. don't miss that. bill: also, three months ago the white house said it would start arming the syrian rebels. why has that not yet happened? were they serious? captain chuck nash answer that next. [ telephone rings ] heart healthy, huh? you don't like flavor? actually, it's deliciously bold with southwest spices. i think i'm getting hungry. i think we're going to like this class. [ male announcer ] progresso. surprisingly bold flavor for a heart healthy soup.

martha: all right, rights now we're waiting for a hearing that will take place in the senate with key administration officials on syria. secretary of state john kerry will be there, the secretary of defense, chuck hagel, and also the joint chiefs chair, general dempsey, are going to testify in front of the foreign relations committee. so this will be a fascinating exchange on what to do in syria. and all of this comes as the president just wrapped up a meeting with key congressional leaders. it's all part of a very big sales pitch, if you will, today to promote what is about to happen this syria in response to the crisis there. so the administration, though, has not armed rebels up to this point despite saying that they would begin aid to the rebels nearly three months ago. and we're going to show you a statement where they said that just moments from now. captain chuck nash is a retired navy captain and fox news military analyst, and he joins me now. good to have you here, as

always. >> good morning, martha. martha: what do you think should be done? do you think congress should vote to approve this strike? >> it depends on what this strike really entails. if this strike is nothing more than poking our nose in there and not changing the game, then, no. because if you take a shot at somebody, you should expect them to take a shot back at you. therefore, this ought to be part of an overall plan that achieves certain strategic political ends, and if it doesn't, if all it is is, quote, doing something, end quote, then, no, i don't support that at all. but if it's to change the events on the ground and we have a plan on what we want that outcome to look like, then, yes, i can say support it because the president has already gotten far out in front of the whole process with his rhetoric, and now the united states and our reputation abroad is really swinging in the balance. so there better be a good plan.

martha: yeah. as the president hinted moments ago at a broad wither strategy, he said that he would like to degrade the ability of assad's regime and military capability. he said he wants to upgrade the ability of the opposition, and he said that was part of a broader strategy, was the quote, to aid in a transition that would happen over time. he stopped short of saying assad must go which the administration said quite frequently a couple of months ago. >> yeah. it's difficult enough to win wars, let alone lot throttle tho the point where you get some kind of equal balance between two opposing sides when you're not one of them. i mean, that's kind of nuts. the other thing is it sounds to me as if what they're trying to divine out of this is some balance that forces a political settlement between two sides. well, the assad side and the rebel side, the rebels if you look at it, that's not one solid

bloc. you've got multiple organizations in there, some of them are being supported by gulf states, they're closely aligned with al-qaeda, and then you've got the free syrian army which are the moderates, if you will, in this thing. so it's not like you're talking side a and side b and somehow you're going to achieve parity and then they're all going to get along. there better be a better plan than that. martha: yeah. when you look back over the last few months, in june the administration said that there was evidence that sarin gas had been used back in june, and we saw this statement from ben rhodes which was really at that moment very big news, but it came in paper form, and this was what was on the statement. it said, put simply, the assad regime should now know that its actions have led us to increase the scope and the scale of assistance that we provide to the opposition, including direct support to the supreme military council, he said. these efforts will increase going forward, and yet what we

have heard from the opposition is that they've gotten nothing. >> right. the free syrian army is hanging out, they're on the end of the limb. they've got a lot of support on the ground, but the most -- not the best fighters because, certainly, their tactics are nothing that we as americans would ever support. but the al-nusra guys, they're getting weapons and plenty of them, and so they're being very effective on the battlefield, but they're being supported by some of the gulf states. the free syrian army is not being supported, and that's who in the end if this all comes down to assad loses because maybe we degrade it too much and he doesn't get enough support from russia, but if the rebels were to win, then the question becomes does al-nusra and their guys fight it out with the free syrian army guys -- martha: i'm sorry to interrupt you, but before i let you go, if we had given that support we said we were going to start giving back in june, do you

think it would have made any difference? >> that's the road not taken, martha. we'll never know. but back then what we were talking about was non-military aid. so it was hospital equipment, food stuffs, things like that. but i don't believe that they were talking about weapons back then. and even then it's training and some things like that which you can do as covert action. but actually shipping all the weapons in, no. the only people who have been shipping weapons in in vast quantities are the gulf state, and they've been shipping them in to the al-qaeda side of the equation or the opposition, i should say. martha: captain, good to have you here, as always. >> my pleasure, martha. bill: this meeting, apparently, still ongoing at this hour. top members of the president's national security team, meanwhile, they will head to the hill a bit later this afternoon. in a moment, we'll talk with one of the senators who will be leading the questions there. jeff flake is out of arizona. he's on the senate foreign

relations committee, about what he wants to hear before congress votes. so that senator is on deck, next.

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bill: we're monitoring all reaction regarding syria. senator lindsey graham just tweeted the following, he met with the president at the white house yesterday. quote: our choices about what to do regarding syria today are bad and worse. the pentagon laying out plans for a possible military strike ready to go as soon as the president gives that go ahead, but some sources say that delay is hurting the u.s. there's the tweet from graham a moment ago. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is, she's working 24/7 for us right now. jennifer, good morning to you. what do you have this hour? >> reporter: good morning, bill. we've just been able to confirm that the u.s. navy has now gone from five u.s. destroyers in the eastern mediterranean down to four. the uss mayhem has been pulled out. remember, that was part of a planned rotation.

the uss stout had been brought in as part of that regular replacement that occurs in the eastern mediterranean when things got heated last week. the u.s. navy had gone up to five destroyers, now they are back down to four. we're told from u.s. defense officials they could, in fact, even go down to three u.s. navy destroyers. each of those destroyers can carry up to 90 tomahawk missiles. we're told that in general, for the most part, most destroyers are carrying about 40 tomahawks. that is, we're told, more than enough to carry out this limited strike that's being considered. but again, as every day goes by, you've heard the concern from people like senator mccain, senator graham that this is giving assad time to prepare, time to move those mobile chemical weapons launchers around, those scud missiles. here's senator graham -- senator mccain, excuse me, not long ago. >> i hate to use the word disgraceful, but to tell the american people that it doesn't matter when we strike while

bashar assad is moving his military into civilian areas and vice versa and complicating our challenge dramatically is just disgraceful. >> reporter: so, again, from all that we're seeing in terms of resources in the eastern med train -- mediterranean, there is not a large buildup being planned, there doesn't appear to be any change in plans. the u.s. navy is currently in a watch and wait mode awaiting those orders from the president when and if they come. bill: jennifer thank, thank you. you heard from senator mccain, joining me now, jeff flake out of arizona. he will be asking questions later today during the senate foreign relations hearing. senator, thank you for your time here. i know it's been a busy morning, it'll be an even busier afternoon. what's your first question when that hearing starts? >> well, similar to what senator mccain just asked, why, if it's so vital that we strike, why are we waiting? the president certainly has the authority. he didn't need to come to congress. and if this is a military

operation or something we need to do strategically, it seems strange that we would wait. bill: so he has now made his decision, and you will at some point be forced to make yours. what will it be? >> right. oh, that's why i'm here. i'm here for classified briefings as well as the open hearing. be and i hope to learn why it is that we can wait like this if we need to strike. it seems we should have done so already, not just when this last chemical attack occurred, but when the first one did months and months ago. bill: why do you think the president is waiting? and deferring to congress? >> well, certainly, obviously, politically it's better to have the congress aligned with you. but strategically, it just seems strange to wait and to do this this way. bill: why strategically? >> well, strategically, obviously, if somebody -- if it crosses a red line, you usually retaliate and give effect to

what you said, not wait for a couple of weeks to allow them to move their equipment or to prepare for the attack. it just seems odd. i'm anxious to hear why the administration doesn't feel that that's the case. bill: have you been in a classified briefing yet on syria in the past few days? >> i just got out of one minutes ago. bill: i don't know what or how you can characterize this, but we were speaking with a member of congress who flew to washington on sunday, and he was given one of these briefings and came out said i'm not convinced, and on top of that, he wasn't happy that the president and vice president weren't there because 81 members of congress came back on a sunday. were you convinced based on the evidence that was just presented to you? >> well, i have some specific questions that i won't go into with regard to efforts at diplomacy and what we're doing with some of our allies. but, you know, we have a couple more classified briefings today.

we have the open hearing as well. so i'm still, still learning, and so i don't want to comment on that. bill: are you skeptical? >> well, like i say, i think the administration really does need to explain the, you know, the sequence here, why in the world we're waiting if it's so vital that we act. so i'm still waiting for a good explanation of that. i have not heard it yet. bill: what the president said this hour is that he has a high confidence that chemical weapons were used. the phrase "high confidence," it stuck out to me. do you have a high confidence, or do you have -- or, rather, are you convinced that chemical weapons were used? >> well, i think that that's beyond dispute. the syrian government even acknowledges that chemical weapons were used. they're just blaming it on the opposition. so i don't think you'll see as many questions about that today. it seems clear to us that that

red line was crossed. it's just why we're going about reacting in this way. that's the bigger question right now. bull bill if the question -- bill: if the question then becomes we strike in a week as a country or even two weeks or a month from now, are you saying based on that timeline that you would vote no, or would you still go forward despite the fact that you're not satisfied a strike hasn't happened already -- >> well, that's why i'm anxious to hear in classified setting, certainly, why the administration believes that we're okay waiting for a couple of weeks. it seems strange. i don't have a military background, but it seems odd to me that you can with just as effective moving a couple of weeks from now as you could be initially or right after the chemical weapons attack. under the war powers resolution, the president certainly has the authority to attack and then come to congress within 60 or really 90 days afterwards, so it just seems odd that they've

waited. bill: it's clear from your answers here, sir, and this is the first time we've spoken about this, that there are a lot of gray areas for you in your mind. and i know you're just away for a long august break, but based on what you know from your colleagues, if a vote came before congress, would the president get the authority to hit syria? >> i think it's too early to tell. i think that that's why today's hearing will be very enlightening in that regard in the senate foreign relations committee, and i think we'll get a better idea after the next few days. bill: and back to the chemical weapons issue, are you convinced that assad did this? >> yes. yes. i -- bill: assad? >> well, that's, you know, who gave the ultimate order -- bill: the government then? >> -- was it with his acquiescence or full knowledge? did he actually give the order? those are some things that we're still getting briefings on. bill: 2:30 eastern time is the hearing in the senate foreign relations committee. jeff flake, sir, thank you for your time on the hill. >> thank you.

bill: we'll speak again. martha? martha: everybody waiting to finish these hearings and to see what they learn. today is an extremely important day on all of this, and jenna lee is standing by to tell us what they've got coming up on "happening now." good morning, jenna. jenna: we're going to continue the conversation on the crisis in syria. as you mentioned, it is the top news story of the day, and we're going to talk to one woman who just got back from the war zone and get her take on what she thinks every american should know before passing judgment on what we should do or not do. also, a new twist this flu season, doctors and patients choosing which shot to get. is this a good idea, or could it actually create more confusion? a guide for your family coming up, top of the hour. heart healthy, huh?!

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martha: all right, let's take you to a live shot outside the white house. this is where we are waiting for the lawmakers to come out after they continue to discuss syria and what should be done. we saw mitch mcconnell go in, nancy pelosi, eric cantor, and now we're waiting for them to come back out and talk a little bit about what the president said. we did get some glimpse of what was going on in there, and we've gotten headlines to you about what the president has said. a lot will be focused on this statement that the president made toward the end of what we saw from the earlier spread. let's take a look at this again. >> so long as we are accomplishing what needs to be accomplished, which is to send a clear message to assad degrading his capabilities to use chemical weapons not just now, but also in the future, as long as the authorization allows us to do that, you know, i'm confident that we're going to be able to come up with something that hits that mark. martha: so he talked about degrading assad's ability, he talked about upgrading the opposition's ability, and then he talked, bill, about a broader

strategy that would lead to a transition in syria. now, that's a big open question about whether or not he is going to try to seek the end of the assad regime ultimately in all of this, and no doubt that's one of the big topics of conversation going on inside those doors right now. bill: you were talking about earlier about a decision made on the rebels, and that is yet to happen. chuck nash was on a short time ago. what you see here are the chemical facilities that the united states intelligence believes exist in syria today. there's one here, a storage facility east of damascus, another one up here around the town of homs. here's aleppo, the second largest city, a storage facility right near the mediterranean sea as well. if you were to go after targets, what targets do you go after? well, the air force is where the syrians excel. advance it one time for me, if you can. and these are of the dozens of military bases and airports throughout the country, these are the six sites that are said to be the most prominent right now used by the assad regime,

and the thinking is militarily if you can cripple the air force, you can go a long way toward helping the rebels. listening to jeff flake talk a moment ago, i mean, his point is very well taken, you know? if it's so urgent, why wait? why are we delaying this right now? why did we not already take action at a time when you think as cad can move his material around? jennifer griffin did some fine reporting last night. she believes based on what her sources are telling her that if they move anything, we see it being moved, and we know where it's going. martha: it appears that we have very good aerial capability in terms of looking at what's going on on the ground there, and there is a line of thinking that it would not be that difficult to degrade his capability by hitting those sites you just pointed to on the map. so we're waiting for the lawmakers to come out. we'll take a quick break, we'll see you right on the other side.

martha: so busy morning. a lot more to come. when we hear them come out, this could go either way in congress,

it really sounds like it. bill: when you hear from the right and you hear from the left you're not quite sure where it goes. check us out this afternoon. we'll watch hearing. martha: i will do america live at 1:00. "happening now" starts right now. we'll see you tomorrow. jon: brand new stories and breaking news. jenna: key leaders from capitol hill meeting with the president right now from the white house. the president is stepping up his game to gather support for a military strike against syria insisting this will not become another iraq or afghanistan. we'll dig a little deeper. some lawmakers praising the president for seeking presidential approval. we'll talk to one member who says the u.s. should strike regardless what congress does. the flu shot this season which is best for your you and your family. we're already talking about the flu. school just got back in. it is haul "happening now." jon: we begin with this fox news