be having a heart attack. it can happen to anyone at any time. the doctor recommends bayer aspirin to keep this from happening to me again. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. it's working. six years and counting. know the symptoms. talk to your doctor. hi, everyone. the "news nation" is following syria's denial of using chemical weapons against its own people. today in response to u.s. accusations, syrian officials say opposition forces used those chemical weapons, not for the government. syrian troops have been pushing into rebel neighborhoods amid heavy fighting from the grounds. at the white house today, just 24 hours since the news broke. press secretary jay carney said the administration is moving forward, cautiously. >> we are continuing to work to

build on the assessments made by the intelligence community. that the degrees of confidence here are varying. this is not an airtight case. and that is entirely the responsible thing to do. as i think many observers of this with a little historical perspective have made clear in the last 24 hours. >> nbc news white house correspondent kristin welker joins us live. we know that syria is part of the agenda. >> syria will be part of the agenda. as many as 500,000 syrian refugees currently live in jordan. it is expected that that number will double by the end of the year. this is something of grave concern to jordan as well. i can tell you that reporters will have a few moments at the start of that meeting with the president and king abdullah. we are hoping to get some reaction from president obama about these developments that

are coming out of syria. no word yet if he will actually give any reaction. but the white house right now, really weighing its options. they say it is too soon to say whether or not a red line has actually been crossed, because they say that intelligence that you just heard jay carney reference really comes with varying degrees of confidence of essentially saying they don't have enough to go on, to say definitively that the assad regime has used chemical weapons against its own people. the obama administration is really weighing a number of bad options right now. if they put boots on the ground it could cost thousands of american lives. as you know, this country already quite war weary. also, arming the rebels. another option. the concern there is they don't know who all of the opposition forces are. a third option would be to enforce a no-fly zone. that also comes with some complications. so experts behind the scenes say that what they think the administration is really trying to do right now is to strong arm

russia, to put russia in a box, to get them to force the assad regime to stop its actions and to force assad to step down from power. there is a lot of pressure on this administration to act. you have bipartisan calls from members of congress for president obama to engage in syria. not just coming from republicans but democrats also. we say it is clear that a red line has been crossed. that is the back drop as this president weighs his options and tries to decide how to go from here. >> let me bring in assistant secretary of state, p.j. crowley, james reuben and nbc correspondent, i'll start with you. the white house attempting to put programs russia in a box according to kristen welker. it seem the white house itself is in a box. >> well, yes, they made this red line was something president obama put forward and declared this as the rationale to justify

the use of military power. i don't think any intelligence assessment will tell us that the rebels have large quantities of sarin gas. i don't think it is really in doubt that the origin of this gas is the years i can't be regime, bashar assad. whether this happened by accident or on purpose may be one question that needs to be answered. >> that's a significant question. that would be the only thing left that i think is in doubt. and for now, i think the administration as you said is going to put some pressure on russia. but russia has not proven very amenable to responding in the past. we had months and months last year when we were downing on the russians to help resolve this and they failed. >> is it predictable that the syrian government would blame the opposition forces for the use of chemicals as opposed to saying perhaps this was an accident. they're investigating. they're not saying that. they're pointing the finger at the opposition forces. >> it is very predictable.

they've been trying to pain the rebels and the opposition as extremist. as terrorists who are bent on not only destabilizing syria but part of a larger regional conspiracy that will ultimately destabilize the world. >> and amen, i'm sorry to interrupt you. it was a few weeks ago, maybe a little over a month, we first heard word that possibly the chemicals had been used and the finger pointing started. early on the syrian government made that accusation about the opposition leaders before. >> absolutely. anecdotal evidence has been there since the day of the attack. the day these attacks happened, over the past several weeks and months, the evidence emerged from the doctors in the field treating these patients. there was video of people had a loose flating, being treated in the hospitals. we know the stockpiles are there. i think the point that jamie made which is very important, whether or not this was an order given by the regime or whether or not this was a rogue military unit maybe under pressure or happened to get their hands on

an artillery shell that fired it. the reason that's so important in determining the forward actions of the u.s. government is because when we talk about chemical weapons, we think of them on the scale of killing 3,000, 5,000 people as we've seen elsewhere. now the question is, this was a small scale. even by the u.s. intelligence assessment. why would the regime which has already killed 80,000 people resort to a chemical weapon in killing a small group of people? they have scud missile that's they've used, they have the artillery capabilities to deliver weapons of mass destruction. why would they use something on a small scale in an incident like we've seen? >> that's one of the many questions. let me bring you back in regarding the choices for the obama administration. it says the ghosts of the iraq war weigh heavily on the president and his top advisers handling the syrian crisis. according to former officials, and analysts close to the administration, they don't want to get it wrong them don't want to move too quickly. they don't want to spend the second term getting embroiled

and topping another middle east dictator and cleaning up the aftermath after spending the first term getting untangled from the last war. i don't think you have to be an expert on the middle east to know that would all go through this administration's mind. what i'm curious about, how much of the if then scenario has been worked out and perhaps we do not know. >> i would say that iraq may well be the ghost by what happens in years. i can't as jamie rubin will appreciate, i think the model may not be the iraq of 2003 but the iraq say, of 1993. there are not very good military options here. none of the ones that kristen outlined necessarily addressed the problem of chemical weapons. if you put boots on the ground, you become a combatant. you can't bomb them without hurting the syrian people. at the same time there is a political opportunity here. russia and china have kept the u.n. largely on the side line. what the white house statement was pointing to yesterday was

the ongoing u.n. investigation. so if you have a growing consensus among britain, france, the united states, that chemical weapons have been used as jamie that, accidentally or not, but then that would open the door for a u.n. council resolution that establishes a monday torborg or protection mission for united nations inside syria. at a minimum, putting u.n. boots on the ground to guard these stocks that cannot be stolen, they can't be used. and it brings the u.n. from the sidelines into the center of the fray. it is a question whether russia and china will go along with this. either way it strengthens the hand of the united states going forward. >> to your point, i want to read what david cameron said. he said this is war crime and we should take it very seriously. we've been careful not to make the mistake that we've made in the past. as soon as you see a report you rush into print. we're trying to consider our evidence, make sure we can verify it. this is extremely serious and what president obama said is

absolutely right. this should form the international communities to do more. that falls in line with needing this coalition, if you will. what about israel? you have the deputy foreign minister saying that world powers may now conclude there was no avoiding action to take control of assad's chemical stockpile. we knew the threat of the possibility was there. >> i think what they want is deterrence them want to see a use of force in response to this chemical weapons so that there is a price paid. they are concerned that if this sneaks right under the threshold, if assad was actually doing this to test whether the red line would be implemented -- >> calling the bluff. >> calling the u.s. bluff, and there is no response, it will grow and grow and grow. the israelis more than anybody in the region are concerned about these chemical weapons falling into the hands of hezbollah or other groups since they live right on the border there. i think the important thing here is, yes, there are ghosts of iraq and i know everybody is thinking iraq, chemical weapons,

the same claim. this is very different. and i think people should remember. what we were talking about in iraq was, had they produced some material that was then hidden away. here we have real evidence of actual chemicals causing medical damage. we have sarin gas, in soil samples. this is a different oil of magnitude. i don't think we should get caught. for iraq, it was has saddam hussein destroyed all his weapons? we don't know. we guessed that he hadn't. we guessed there were some left. this is very different. this is concrete. medical damage. this is pictures of people suffering, chemical weapon responses. again, was it on purpose? was it an accident? there are chemical weapons that have been used in syria. that's not really in doubt. >> the circumstances are different but it does bear the note of caution when you have the same, i don't want to call them players, if you will, but on both sides, calling this

shameful. to your point, it is not 100% clear on how these chemical weapons or who these chemical weapons, who used them. >> remember, this isn't the motivation for senator mccain. this is the last straw for senator mccain. he believes and others believe that we should have been involved long ago. not because of chemical weapons, but because million of angry refugees are being created in that part of the world. that's dangerous. >> what about the opposition? you still have that concern about for example, senator john mccain wanting to then opposition and we still like with libya, we don't know who all of the players are there. >> there is a very tragic irony that is unfolding here. over the past two years, where we were in the beginning when this was a peaceful nonviolent uprising against the regime. there was an inaction because people didn't want to internationalize the conflict or regionalize the conflict.

they were sitting on the sidelines saying we don't want to get involved in a domestic syrian affair. here we are two years later. it is spilled over with the refugees. armies coming from hezbollah fighters. there is an irony that now we are being forced into action when two years ago, it would have been a lot easier. we had a more clear opposition. a more organized opposition than what we have now. back then two years ago, the presence of al qaeda and extremists was much more minimal than today. >> but you may not have had the international support that you're hoping for this time around, unfortunately. >> unfortunately. there is the tragedy. that the inaction over two years has led to more extremists, chemical weapons and a regional and international crisis. >> and lives lost. we can't stress that enough. some 6,000 lives believed to have been lost this last month. that's on top of the numbers. i've heard from tens of thousands to some people predict over 100,000. which obviously, those numbers need to be confirmed.

nevertheless, we know it is a massive loss of life. back to the president's meeting with king abdullah, what do you believe would happen as far as putting together some of the pieces. i hate to use the verbiage. it is a lot of strategy and moves. almost like a chess game. you can have your allies with you because the u.s. certainly knows from faults of the past, going it alone. or going it always in front. >> i agree with jamie rubin. because of the reality of chemical weapons, this is, this becomes a political imperative. now what do you do? and i think we have to use this as an opportunity to try to get as close to the conditions that existed two years ago with respect to the intervention in libya at a minimum. some kind of declaration by the arab league that this is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with by the national communicate. then try to apply pressure on russia and china to at least go along with some sort of resolution that secures these

chemical weapons. then we continue to look at ways in which we can make both the political and military opposition in syria more effective. >> do you believe where we are now is inevitable because of inaction, possibly that the situation we are in, the continued loss of life and eventually escalating to there possible use of chemical weapons, was this inevitable because there was no intervention? >> i think we're getting closer to conditions that enable a legitimate and legal intervention in syria. i still don't think it is necessarily going to be through direct military action. it might be an increase in the range of support given to the free syrian army, for example. this provides a political opportunity. i think the obama administration will seize upon. they need to develop time to build momentum and innational support. >> to pick up on that point. i asked specifically, what is the arab league going to do which we know is a paper organization. he was saying that they are actually in the united states to get the united states to lead on

this syria crisis. you know that trying to go back to innational organizations like the arab league, they can't get anything done by themselves. they don't have the international mandate to do anything with military support. these countries are acting on a bilateral basis. each has their own personal country objectives. when they go through the united nations, russia and china block it. this is an international paralysis leading to there. >> that's why they call america the indispensable nation. if the united states doesn't start this rolling, we'll be here six months from now, a year from now saying the same stuff we should have done a year ago. >> thank you. i'm sure we'll be talking with you more on this. congress voted a short time ago to end the airline furloughs that have delayed flights the last six days. eric kantor calls it a complete and utter cave by the senate. meanwhile, democrats are asking why stop with air travel.

>> we're here this morning because americans are understandably upset that sitting and waiting at airport gates. but there are other americans who are sitting and waiting. >> join our conversation on twitter. you can feigned us @tamron hall and my team. [ female announcer ] new york strips. sudden trips. mr. wiggles and curling irons. for the little mishaps you feel, use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster neosporin.

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did you tell him to say all of that? no, he's right though...

in the past few hours, the house has decided to end the furlough that caused thousands of flights. it passed overwhelmingly. it allows the faa to shrift money from other accounts and bring staffing levels of air traffic controllers back to normal. the white house press secretary jay carney called the measure a quote, band-aid solution. but said president obama will sign it.

>> how is it fair or right or just that these kids on head start get their cuts, that these cuts go into effect and the defense department and it's tough luck. when a bunch of business travelers belly ache because their flights are delayed because of the furloughs, that they get one of the fastest pieces of legislation to move through washington in recent memory. why doesn't the president take a stand? you could have flown in members of congress who need flights home also. but the fact is the delays are -- they are a problem for not just business travelers and members of congress. but for many americans. and that's a real negative consequence of the sequester. your point is excellent. and we call on congress to show as much concern for others who are being harmed. >> joining me now live,

transportation reporter and white house reporter, thank you all for joining me. that is a heck of a question. that is the question on this friday that you're hearing over and over on blogs and when you talk to folks. when one group somehow escapes the sequester and then we talk about head start programs. we did a piece on families in the midwest suffering because the head start program in their state had been affected. meals on wheels. the list goes on and on. is that an appropriate answer from mr. carney to that question? that is on the minds of americans today. >> i think what happened today is the starkest illustration of that inequity that exists, the sequester and til pact of it and how congress is responding to it. clearly you saw a lot of democrats today come out and say, i really hope congress works this hard and this fast when the head start cuts are being felt, meals on wheels, folks who are disabled are really facing the brunt. and a lot of the cuts as well with you it is not as widely

felt. and it is a pretty valid criticism. i think that's been sort of the misstep from the white house's perspective in terms of how they've handled this. the cuts have kicked in so gradually and incemetekr increm. the furloughs at the airports was viewed as one of the highest impact cuts floufl that that has been taken out of the equation with what congress did today, it may take away some of the impetus to deal with things more broadly as they come up. >> politico has an article saying democrats blinked first on aviation cuts. it says while travelers may be relieved splrk democrats worry about saving the faa while letting other domestic programs suffer. it is that squeaky wheel thing. i'll bring in the gun debate. the nra even its own membership supporting background checks. the power of the press

conferences that were held i guess by wayne lapierre and the pressure they were able to put on some republicans and democrats certainly, we saw that effort derailed. here we are again. 4-year-olds cannot go and write their letters and demand that their members of congress act on their benefit. but business travelers got the attention of those in your town. i call it your town now because everyone is bin laden at d.c. >> i'm not sure it is business travelers as much as members of congress lou have to get out of town every week themselves get to get on their flights really, really quickly to get back and forth to washington. that i think probably had as much of an impact as anything else in terms of getting members to act as quickly. >> is that the case? the transportation reporter, was it congress being inconvenienced? or was it truly air travelers? >> well, we heard a lot from air travelers during the week. because it added something like 1,000 delays nationwide. but i think part of what helped the political dynamic in

washington was that even among conservative republicans, they were very nervous about having small air traffic control towers closed in their communities. they were hearing from their residents about flight delays. so there was great urgency to fix it on both sides of the aisle. >> i want to play a little of what senator john mccain and bob cork he both today, their response to what happened. we should mention this was as they were boarding flights to get out of washington, d.c. let me play it. >> i think everybody on both sides of the aisle knew that the white house was purposefully trying to inconvenience people to try to force us to a different place as it relates to spending. >> it is a failure of congress, frankly, and the president to join together to prevent these really unnecessary hardships on the american public. >> so again you see the airport background there. how much of a role did the airlines play in all of this? >> the airlines had resisted

these cuts strenuously. they filed a lawsuit last friday to try to stop the furloughs. that case had not been heard and i guess now becomes moot. but the airlines had resisted this. they said it would bring an important facet of the economy to a halt. so they fought it strongly. >> the president said he will sign this bill. what do we believe will happen next? >> we'll have to wait for the next sort of issue to pop up with sequestration. this will obviously the furloughs will be averted. but like democrats have been saying all yesterday, all day, is that these cuts are still going to go into effect. hit people pretty broadly. i think the national parks this summer may be the next sort of focal point for more widespread attention. but again, this is coming. these cuts are kicking in sort of so gradually and incrementally that it is hard to see what the next sort of big tension point is that forces

congress to act short of going with this gang in the senate, the group of republicans trying to work with the white house, maybe on larger deficit deal. in many ways, the white house what they view as their best hope, dealing with this for the long term. this issue will pop back up at the end of the fiscal year. even if they're dealing with it piecemeal until then. >> great pleasure have you gone on. this is the part of our gut check. we'll ask you your thoughts on that faa bill. and the surviving boston terrorist suspect in a federal prison after being removed from the hospital this morning. we're learning exclusive new details about the bombs allegedly built by the two brothers. plus, president obama becomes the first sitting president to address planned parenthood today. >> when politicians tried to turn planned parenthood into a punching bag, they're not just talking about you. they're talking about the millions of women who you serve. >> we'll play you more of the president's remarks.

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we're going to play the president's comments a short time ago during his visit with jordan's king abdullah. >> as i said, knowing that potential chemical weapons have been used inside syria doesn't tell us when they were used, how they were used, obtaining confirmation and strong evidence, all of those things we have to make sure we work on with the international community and we ourselves will be putting a lot of resources into settling this. and i think that in many ways, a line has been crossed when we see tens of thousands of innocent people being killed by a regime. but the use of chemical weapons and the dangers that poses to

the international community, to neighbors of syria, the potential for chemical weapons to get into the hands of terrorists, all of those things, add increased urgency to what is already a significant security problem and humanitarian problem in the region. so we're going to be working with countries like jordan to try to obtain more direct evidence and confirmation of this potential use. in the meantime, i've been very clear publicly but also privately that for the syrian government to utilize chemical weapons on its people crosses a line that will change my calculus and how the united states approaches these issues. so this is not an on or off switch. this is an ongoing challenge that all of us have to be

concerned about. and we're going to be working with the international community and our partners to keep our eyes on what's happening on the ground, to gather any evidence of potential weapon use. and at the same time to help with a moderate and inclusive opposition to help bring about the day when the syrian people can once again focus on living their lives, raising their children, starting businesses, and obtaining basic freedom and human rights. this will be a long term proposition. this is not something that is solved easily overnight. i know that king abdullah is committed to trying to find these kinds of solutions. so am i. all right? thank you. >> president obama's first on camera comments regarding the situation with syria, saying it

will not be solved overnight. and it is still to be determined when or how these chemical weapons were used. the president also indicating he is working with international allies to come up with a plan as part of the reaction to there ongoing story that broke around the same time yesterday. news that syria had used chemical weapons against its own people. these the first remarks on camera regarding the latest developments in that international ongoing story. and nbc news has received details about the bombs used by the boston suspects. they went beyond the instructions detailed in the al qaeda magazine "inspire." the surviving suspect admitted using. meanwhile, authorities from a boston hospital to a prison facility. he is now at the decommissioned base ft. devens north of boston. mike isikoff, what else did we

get from that new report? >> reporter: well, actually, the main point is that there was, there seems to have been a level of sophistication here that went beyond just the standard pressure cooker bomb outlined in "inspire." and one nugget, one detail. in that ied that the tsarnaev brothers hurled at police that night, authorities are investigating based on christmas tree lights recovered from one of the suspects' rooms, that they used a light bulb filaments as an initiator for the device. so there seems to have been a variety of components that they used to construct these bombs from hobby fuses to light bulb filaments from christmas lights. and i think they're piecing together how these bombs were made.

but the key point is this does seem to be more sophisticated than authorities thought at first. >> what about the transfer of dzhokhar tsarnaev? do we know why the decision was made overnight? is it because his health improved enough for him to be transferred? >> reporter: well, they haven't said exactly how much his health may have improved. but he's been there a while. he is badly wounded. he has gunshot wounds in his head, his neck, his legs and his hand. and also, there were a lot of victims of the boston marathon bombing that are also recovering in that beth israel hospital from everything we've heard from the victims' families, they're not too happy about sharing hospitals with the bomber who injured their loved ones. since he is going to need care for a while, he has been transferred to this facility. ft. devens, it is part of the u.s. prison system. it is a former military base that has been converted to a prison that specializes in long

term medical care and it looks from all appearances that tsarnaev is going to need it. >> thank you very much. senators john mccain and chuck schumer, the lead negotiators on immigration reform, are now predicting their bill will get majority support from both parties. but there are new reports the house will reject a comprehensive approach in favor of a piecemeal strategy. we'll get the latest on immigration. when our little girl was born, we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word. (little girl) no! saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up.

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there is increased optimism today about the senate approving come preive reform. they think could it win the fbl proof majority of at least 70 votes. meantime senators john mccain and chuck schumer are predicting majority support from both parties. it is a different story in the house where the "washington post" reports house conservatives plan to push their own immigration agenda.

and t"the new york times" indicates they plan to offer several immigration bills. luke russert joins us. the two reports fall in line with what people were anticipating as a problem once this legislation, if it does reach the house. >> reporter: it is absolutely fascinating. there has been a lot of optimism around this gang of eight compromise that you've done such great reporting on. what we are trying to tell people here out of d.c., there has to be a little bit of caution. while something may come out of this, the house republican conference is not necessarily been very excited to embrace that type of comprehensive immigration reform. the reason why? they represent extremely conservative districts, having any fingerprints of immigration reform are often deadly. like so many issues we've seen, this is going to come down to whether or not john boehner would be willing to take the senate bill, put it on the house floor. pass it with democrats and a

handful of republicans. 60, 70, 75 republicans. it is too far out to know how this would look. while we've seen this optimism, it is report to remember that this is a very difficult thing for the house gop leadership to navigate through. the chairman of the house judiciary committee, as he former immigration lawyer, he said let's slow down the process. let's let everyone have a good look at i. when you slow it down and everyone has a good look at it, that gives time for the opposition to come up. who does that hurt the most? marco rubeo who has put out his neck on this bill, if the conservative from jim demint, if they rise up against marco rubio. there comes a point where he says, look, i can't keep going further down this road and perhaps risk my political future in 2016. it will be a fascinating development over the next few months. >> all right, luke. thank you very much. time for the political post skrimt. the fallout from the boston bombings dominated the

washington landscape this week. and lawmakers from both sides sought answers from officials on who knew what and when and at a hearing on immigration reform, tempers flared on accusations that some are trying to politicize the tragedy. >> if you have ways to improve the bill, offer an amendment when we start mark up in may and let's vote on it. i say that particularly to those who are pointing to what happened, the terrible tragedy in boston as a, i would say, skews for not doing a bill. or delaying it. >> i never said that. >> we have a broken immigration system. if anything, what we see in boston is that we have to fix and modernize our immigration system for many reasons. >> i'm very concerned that there still seem to be serious problems with sharing information including critical investigative information.

>> i still say the main question is the fbi's investigation going back to 2011. and why it was not followed up since then. the answers given. again, we have to look into it more. >> we need to keep at that and we need to see if there are any loopholes, that we fix those loopholes. >> if someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and $50 in cash, i don't care if a drunk kill him or a policeman kills him. >> you didn't inform the congress of this sequester impact and what you plan to do about it. >> we have been about reduction in available controller hours of 10% for months. >> joining me now live, nbc news political editor mark murray. another incredible week. we're seeing honestly, lawmakers on both sides with legitimate questions, as are the american people asking regarding what happened prior to the bombings, mark. >> yeah.

tamron, this will go on for weeks and weeks. the biggest development had to do with the fact that people thought the fbi, how often did they end up questioning the tsarnaev brothers. and this is a story that is now become a political football. we've seen it questioning about the fbi. we've seen it on the immigration debate. we've seen it on the house floor. at least one house republican accused president obama of not keeping the country safe since 9/11. >> and i want to follow up with you. the headline, senators quietly new path on gun control. when we saw the background check go down, many people thought if you can't get that passed, you cannot get anything and the conversation is over and perhaps moving to immigration reform. it looks like there are some rumblings behind the scenes. >> there is some movement. you have the co-sponsors of that check. joe manchin and john toomey

trying to forge a compromise to get people to support it. i think the chances of any type of passage any time soon is very slim. never say never. this could be a matter that is revisited a year from now. i do think the obama administration and others have gone on. at least in the short term to an issue like immigration. but it is playing out this gun debate is playing out in some blue states. some poeg, at least in pennsylvania, that pat toomey has seen his poll numbers go up since trying to make some sort of compromise. >> thank you very much. have a great weekend. we'll talk with you on monday. while speaking at the national conference in washington, president obama tells planned parenthood, he will block republican efforts to defund that organization. we'll talk with salon.com. [ male announcer ] straight from red lobster's chefs to your table for a limited time! it's our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! a handcrafted seafood feast made to share.

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today president obama became the first sitting president to address planned parenthood. he spoke to about a thousand supporters saying he will fight efforts to restrict women's access to abortion and contraceptives. >> 40 years after the supreme court affirmed a woman's constitutional right to privacy, including the right to clues, we shouldn't have to remind people when it come to a woman's health, no politician should get to decide what is best for you. no one sure should get to decide what kind of care that you get. the only person who gets to make decisions about your health is you. >> we certainly know women voters were key in the presidential election and the president's campaign during one of the most contentious exchanges with mitt romney's team promised to keep planned parenthood funding as romney said he would defund that organization. joining me now, salon's erin carmone. yesterday a lot of the grooms opposed to the president were

quite excited. they thought he was not going to make his address. it turns out the president spend more time with the families in west, texas but then traveled on to give these remarks. >> the right has been trying to make planned parenthood marginal or make it seem extreme and tie it into other news stories. in fact, planned parent hood is broadly popular. they thought they could force president obama away from this speech. if one in five women has sought care at a planned parenthood, we're talking about a very main stream popular organization. when they tried to defund it in the susan g komen, that was a dress rehearsal. >> a person said president obama swapping the gala thursday night for an address on friday shows that while he is certainly willing to avoid a photo of him at an abortion party while the nation mourns, he still refuses to distance himself from the nation's number one abortion provider in the industry that preys on women and defenseless children as exposed through the

gosnell trial and other atrocities. these organizations are bringing in this trial which we've covered as well. a doctor who is charged with multiple counts including killing children who showed signs of life after terminations. so they've somehow conflated the president's appearance at planned parenthood with this grisly trial in philadelphia. >> and they're not related. planned parenthood is in the business of safe, legal health care. what gosnell is accused of doing is illegal and an atrocity and unsafe care. the more that planned parenthood gets people access to health care, safe abortion care, the fewer gosnells there are in the world. >> what about the president telling that organization that he would fight any legislation that would be proposed, or a plan to restrict a woman's access to abortion and contraceptives. >> unfortunely, most of the action is taking place at the state level. president obama did mention some of those policies including in

mississippi, the attempted ballot measure and in north dakota as well. some of it is out of his hands. there are definitely things he can do such as what he did do. stand up to john boehner when he tried to strip planned parenthood of funding, almost shutting down the entire government over women's access to contraception. >> have a great weekend. we appreciate you coming on to talk about this very important address by the president. sflxt up next, our "news nation" gut check. dealing with the faa cuts when so many others are taking a real beating from the sequester. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

[ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer through 6 months. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events, including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have symptoms such as persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness.

if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel.

ask your dermatologist about enbrel. you can reuse almost anything. paper bags. soda bottles handcuffs i'm just saying. so see what you can reuse. you'll reduce what's sent to landfills. the more you know. we mentioned earlier the house gave final congressional approval to legislation that would end the sequester furloughs of air traffic controllers. it does not provide the faa with any more money but rather it allows the agency to shift funds to avoid the furloughs that have delayed thousands of flights

over the last week. questions are being raised about why action has not been taken to help others hurt by the sequester, including head start, for example. seniors who have lost meals as a result of the cuts on meals on wheels through furloughs because of cuts. so should congress have passed a bill just dealing with the fax furloughs? what does your gut tell you? that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. have a great weekend. we'll be back for you on monday. "the cycle" is up next. but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine what that's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. okay. this, won't take long will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. didn't take very long, did it? this spring, dig in and save. that's nice. post it. already did. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. dig in and save with vigoro one-quart annuals, four for just ten bucks. i'm toure. it reads like a crime novel but even grisham wouldn't have written this. the man carjacked by the boston bombing spuks says that just a week ago, it words could help seal the fate of the surviving brother. >> i'm s.e. cupp in washington. today, chemical reaction. what is the white house to do if syria has crossed the red line?

and could decisions made in iraq a decade ago cloud our choices now? patrick murphy served in iraq and offers his thoughts on where we go next. >> i'm jonathan capehart in for ari. syria is heating up. immigration and gun control are hot, hot, hot. today we're taking the temperature of the obama presidency. has he been effective. if not, whose fault is that? >> we spend all year latching at washington. they spend one weekend. the annual white house correspondence dinner is tomorrow night. we're getting ready by reliving some of our favorite moments from dinners past. >> that sounds like fun. plus, parenting 101 cycle style. is choosing not to have kids the new gay? >> slowly over the past 11 days, we've been able to fill in the holes surrounding the boston marathon attacks. the equally terrifying attacks that followed a p