a chemical weapons handov over. >> we believe when we accept this proposal, this means we put an end to the war and we put ours in syria for the solution. >> can the syrians and russians be trusted? >> a lot of people say that nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging. well, it's the credible threat of force that has been on the table for these last weeks that as for the first time brought this regime to even acknowledge that they have a chemical weapons arsenal. >> watch what happens when a republican congressman questions the administration's strategy. >> the senate has already delayed. >> because they don't have the votes, mr. secretary. that's why they delayed.

you know that. >> actually, no, i don't. >> i do. >> i'm glad you know something. i think this is not -- this is not a political discussion about whether there are votes. >> i'm not being political, mr. secretary, it's the truth. they don't have the votes. read any newspaper in this country and you will find that out. >> look, do you want to play politics here or do you want to get a policy in place. >> ouch. so where does that leave the president's prime time appeal tonight. does he still want congress's permission to use military force. >> today secretary kerry said the strikes would be unbelievably small. what does that mean? are we talking a pin brick, knockout blow, punch in the blow. >> the u.s. does not do pin pricks. our military is the greatest ever known. when we take limited strikes, it has an impact on a country like syria.

>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. in the latest turn of events syria agreed in negotiations with russia to hand over chemical weapons in order to avoid military conflict with the u.s. keir simmons spoke in moscow in an exclusive interview. here is what he said. >> we accept the russian proposal which referred to us yesterday. we are ready according to the agreed plan between us and russia. but unfortunately we started to hear some voices in the west and britain, france, even in the united states, people who believe only in war.

we believe when we accept this proposal, this mean we put an end to the war and we put our track in syria on a peaceful solution. >> keir simmons joins me live in moscow. keir, what's really interesting to americans in government, this the first time syria is acknowledging even having chemical weapons? >> that's right. if you listen closely to my interview with the syrian foreign minister, he never at any point says we will put our chemical weapons under international control. the clip you played there is really crucial. you can hear he kind of moves around it and talks about we will -- we've agreed a plan between us and russia which we will fulfill. one of the questions out of this, what is that plan between

the syrians and russians. the syrian foreign minister after that interview set off, we believe, back it syria. he's been here over the last few days. so the russians and syrians have been talking. i tried to press him in the interview to say, okay, what exactly does this mean. he did go on to talk about using the u.n., u.n. procedures to see this play out. it could have been he meant to say they would put chemical weapons under international control but doesn't directly say at any point. a lot of this needs to be ironed out. andrea, you get the sense the two sides inching towards each other, two sides so mistrustful but there is an awful lot to understand, a lot of detail to get through here. >> keir simmons in moscow, great interview, great job. thank you so much for being with us. joining me now here in our studio, nbc's david gregory, moderator of "meet the press"

and robert gibbs, president obama's former press secretary. gentlemen, i have this weird feeling of deja vu all over the place. i remember the first war, russian initiative, jim baker rushes to geneva to try to nail it down. it didn't work. the russians at the last minute realizing they are looking down the barrel of a gun. in a confrontation with the united states, assad and its mentor, syria, david, would not do very well. >> right. so if you're the white house, the pragmatic way to look at this, new round of diplomacy to head off military action. white house doesn't have support in congress for a muscular response. buys some time, perhaps could build domestic support for all this. there's still a big question mark. i thought i heard the president say if you cross a red line there's going to be a tough response from the united states.

that line was crossed. children were killed, hundreds of them, by chemical weapons used by assad. he's still not being punished under this scenario, just having weapons monitored internationally. a lot of parts of this that don't come together yet. >> lets see what secretary kerry had to say on the house side when asked that very question, what is the time line. >> we're waiting for that proposal but we're not waiting for long. president obama will take a hard look at it, but it has to be swift. it has to be real. it has to be verifiable. it cannot be a delaying -- >> robert, the white house realized they might not have votes in the senate. they certainly didn't have them in the house. this is a better solution than losing a vote. i'm not clear, what is the president going to ask the american people for and what is he going to ask congress for, a

vote down the line in 45 days? >> my hunch is the president will give some of what he was going to give tonight in explaining how we get to this situation, the did he testable use of weapons of mass destruction on your own people and ultimately try to build that case. look, going to the u.n. sets a whole level of procedure that you can go back to now and provide legal framework in the future if there's disregard for a solution. that's certainly important. look, you draw red lines so you never have to enforce them. right? if we can get syria's chemical weapons, get china and russia to be part of this, unanimous in the security council. if we can get them to be part of the convention which prevents them from having these weapons, i think this could be a big win. as you said, the white house was

looking at almost certain defeat in the house, growing and likely defeat in the senate. this not only gets them out from under the political problem of losing badly a vote in congress but takes away the ability for assad to use chemical weapons by putting them under international control and hopefully moving them out of damascus and syria and destroying them. >> 60% of the french people were against this and the french papers were incredibly dismissive and destructive to the french president who today proposed there be a resolution. at the u.n. the security council will meet at 4:00. described as an american puppet. american poodle was tony blair years ago. in the "wall street journal" poll, 58% do not want their member of congress to vote for this.

54% do not think the president has made a convincing case for action. >> president went to congress because he wanted a debate. he's on the wrong side of it if he wants to launch military strikes. if the international community takes some steps here to protect innocents from being victimized by these weapons then maybe this is a step in that direction and we go down that diplomatic road and u.n. road trying to get weapons out of syria. i still say one of the problems for the president and his leadership, the red line was about if a whole bunch of these weapons were moved around or utilized. the government said they were utilized and innocent people were murdered as a result. there has yesterday to be a repercussion for that. only now moving forward that weapons won't be around, if that even works out. the bottom line, the president has got to make a case. he's got to say that case is very limited. we've got to lead. we'll be limited about it. now the international community is coming around, he'll say,

because of this threat of action. >> sounds muddled, though. >> i think what's interesting about the polling nbc did and nbc is the best polling of anybody out there because they took this right before the decision to go to congress until now, we've got a good continuum as to how this debate is played out. if you take partisans out of the poll and watch independents, the case for going to the war has gotten worse for the white house. i think tonight is not simply about syria but about our place in the world. it is clear united states, great britain or france or any place in the world, there's a huge reluctance to get involved. the president should begin tonight not simply by talking about syria and what's at stake in the present but reestablishing how this country is going to pursue its foreign policy and why, if we're the indispensable nation we are and sometimes this falls on us to do, we have to create and he has to create a political

environment for that to happen or hamstrung -- >> lets just say iran. that's what matters here. iran is watching. that's the big challenge here in this region is nuclear armed iran. that's what the president is most concerned about. i think he's also got to make it clear that one of the bedrock principles is not allowing proliferation to occur by the worst regions in the world. in many ways syria should be seen through that prism. he's got to communicate that more effectively. >> lets say one of the real problems i think with his communication was when he said this wasn't my red line. here he is overseas. this isn't my red line, this is international red line. if he had said this isn't only my red line, this is an international red line, then he would make the point of a global issue. he seems to be running away from his own -- >> he should have said i put out the international red line when i made that statement in august

2012 from the white house. there's a history of more than 100 years of not using these weapons after we saw the horrors of the first world war. there's eight nations that aren't party to the resolution, syria being one of them. getting them into an international inspection regime, setting it up through the united states so that in the event an inspector wants to go into syria and they say no, that sets up a framework to come back through the united states legally and seek a use of force doctrine. it puts -- this all put russia in an awkward position. these guys have the g-20 and i'm pretty sure they did not want the hall mark of the g-20 to be basically the backston for bashar al assad. they got tired of doing this. i think the syrians understood that however you want to describe a military strike, this would have done significant damage to assad's ability to deliver heavy conventional or

chemical weapons. he certainly didn't want that. >> we're going to have to leave it there. robert gibbs, thank you so much. david gregory, thank you. and president obama at this hour on the hill making his case directly to senators in both parties for action in syria. how will the latest diplomatic moves change course? we'll talk to senators next. last not jon stewart had his own take on the syrian's strategy. >> you would expect everything. >> expect everything. it's assad. is he threatening us or pitching a new tourism slogan. here your dreams are attainable. syria. expect everything. my mantra? always go the extra mile. to treat my low testosterone, i did my research. my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer.

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leading senators are trying to find a way out of a politically damaging vote that the president might very well lose damaging his credibility and that of the senators. senators john mccain and chuck schumer are now working on one proposal, so are democratic senators joe manchin of west virginia and heidi heitkamp in south dakota. they are in the session with the president. i spoke with them moments before they went into that meeting. senators heitkamp, senators manchin, thank you so much for being with me today. first of all, senator manchin, what is your proposal planning to do? because some people would say, wait, are they going to vote for force but wait to see if this works with the united nations? where do we stand? >> it's not my proposal, it's mine and heidi's working together as a collective team that basically wanted an opposes. all we kept hearing from

everybody, the administration, we've got to have an imminent strike. wait a second, diplomacy has to have a chance to work. we brought the experts together. we kept talking about. we came back early last week so we could work and our staffs work together. we believe we have a great proposal that says 45 days join the world, join the chemical weapons convention, be part of 191 countries, identify, secure, and destroy and quit manufacturing any of these horrific weapons. it's a pretty easy thing to follow and it gives the president at the end of 45 days if they don't comply, he has basically the ability to use war powers act he has now. that's what we try to do in a very common sense approach. >> senator heitkamp, would this mean not voting on anything, or would this man authorizing military action, which is what the president wants and not using it until you see what the syrians do? >> i think at this point what we're assuming is that with all good intentions, this process is going to move forward but the

united states congress needs to consider and continue its deliberations. we are still working very, very hard to explain this proposal, to get as many co-sponsors as we can. it's a work in progress. but i think any indication that we are less than willing to proceed with something i think is not the right indication at this point, although we're greatly gratified by the change in what's happening on the ground right now with diplomacy and waiting to see how that plays out. >> is this an effort to get congress off the hook? we know that members and senators did not want to vote. the president thought it was important to give congress the vote. but is this sort of an escape hatch for everybody in the not at all, not the congress tension. we knew we didn't feel right, from constituents in west virginia and dakota. we knew if money or military might would change that part of the world, andrea, we would have done it now as the united states

spent $1.6 trillion, been there for years and thousands of american lives lost and maimed. we knew that wasn't going to change. we've been pushing for this. we had a draft. our draft is starting to be circulated wednesday, thursday and friday, we finalized it friday. we shared it with everybody, the white house and our colleagues. this is something we believe really had an alternative to an imminent strike. now we're seeing that we have russia into the fray now. we have france who said they are going to the u.n. we had france, syria saying they would accept it it. we're saying cooler heads might prevail and this is a much better option than going to war. >> if i can add to that, andrea. we have had a horrific event. the use of chemical weapons banned by 98% of this world. we have to have a response to that. we believe that response is an international response, an

attempt to an international response. it's not shirking the duty to consider this. in fact doing the reasoned analysis sent here by west virginia and north dakota to do. if people have a better idea we're willing to listen to that. we believe it can't be all or nothing. we have to have a broader, more available options. >> mccain and schumer they are proposing something similar. i assume you'll all work together and come up with one unified approach? >> i've said all along heidi and i never felt comfortable after day one after our first briefing ten days ago on a secured call with all our other colleagues. we talked to each other then, talked immediately after the phone call and we've been working diligently. we don't have pride of authorship or ownership, we do have pride of country. we believe diplomacy will work on first basis rather than war strike. if they are going to adopt and all our colleagues are finding

different, we want to work with everybody. we want everybody to be part of this process because we as americans will come out further ahead than getting embroiled in another civil war. >> let me ask both of you, senator heitkamp, let me ask both of you, why would you trust assad. assad has until this initiative denied there was an attack, denied he was part of it, denied he has chemical weapons. why on earth would we trust this man to tell us he's turned them all over to international monitoring and that he is signing a treaty that he's never redesigned. >> we're not trusting assad. we're trusting the russians to come to the table. >> whoa, you're trusting the russians. >> we're trusting russia's intent at this point to actually deliver the right set of circumstances. i've said all along we're waiting of words are not enough. we have to see action. so it is the combination of russia with syria and

understanding that there is this threat. we're very serious in this country about enforcing the ban on chemical weapons one way or the other and they need to bring this country into compliance. >> let me say this about russia and syria. we've not had good relationships or honest dealing with them in the past. so we're very leery of that. that's why the chemical weapons commission should be taking the lead. it shouldn't be russia and it shouldn't be syria and shouldn't be iran. it really shouldn't be the united states, it should be the international community of the cwc. that's the organization that has the clout and the power to make sure they are going in and complying. if we don't believe they are complying, we can bring that on them and the rest of the world. they have already said they will comply, they want to comply. if they are not going to, we've shown them you can't be trusted in the international war. we've shown them russia doesn't mean what they say and it's all a facade.

we've got to use diplomacy to get to the cwc who has authority and has the respect of the world. >> i don't think at this point we should trust what anyone says. i think we need to trust what they do and need to be able to verify what, in fact, actually happens suas a result of this effort at diplomacy. we continue to move forward with the proposal, dialogue with colleagues, dialogue with administration in the hopes we will be prepared to speak with one voice in this country, which i think is a trit cal ccritical of what we're trying to do here. >> we shouldn't snub our nose and say they are making an attempt, it's not a valid attempt, sincere attempt. i want everybody that has an attempt to take us into a peaceful solution and control these weapons and get them off the shelf, maybe we can bring peace to the region and stop the civil war. but it's going to take the entire international community, not just the americans going it

alone. >> in what you're hearing from everyone is really what we need to take this proposal seriously and we they'd to continue to have the discussion. we also need to continue to have the discussion right here in the halls of congress. >> thanks to both of you for your leadership on this. we'll have to leave it there. thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> that's just a little taste of what they are saying right now to the president in that caucus session. tonight president obama will try to explain the syrian policy to a highly skeptical american people in a prime time address. tune into msnbc for special coverage starting at 8:00 eastern. as jimmy fallon pointed out last night in the last 24 hours it's hard to ignore what you could call the president's full-court press. >> see, president obama did six tv interviews today to explain his decision to strike syria. six. even ryan seacrest is like, that guy is on too many shows. ♪

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russia's proposal to give time to turn over chemical weapons has given time, raises questions how will they identify they delivered. savannah guthrie asked the president last night. >> are you skeptical? does it seem like a stalling tactic? >> i think a famous american president once said trust by verify. your have to take it with a grain of salt initially, but between the statements we saw from the russians, the statement today from the syrians, this represents a potentially positive development. my preference consistently has been a diplomatic resolution to this problem. >> so what does the syrian option think about the proposal, leaders of the group in washington to meet with congress and administration. president of the syrian coalition press office and joins

me now. well, is your head spinning? >> that it is. it's been an interesting couple of weeks actually since president obama's speech where he said he was going to go to congress for authorization. >> you must have expected the president was talking about taking military action to punish the regime for its hideous chemical attack on civilians. now we get into this long delay with congress. now we're going back to the u.n. where the administration had said we're not going to be handcuffed by a united states that has been hijacked by russia. so what's going on? >> the united states continues to be hijacked by russians. even with this new french proposal, we're hearing some words that the russians are starting to show opposition to the rece resolution to implement what the russians came up with initially. the real question if you look at the russian initiative, very silent about the issue of accountability. chemical weapons were used, 1406 people fallen heroes were dead,

400 children died as a result of chemical weapons. who is responsible? are we going to hold assad p, or are we going to let him walk away with such a heinous crime in the 21st century. can you trust assad. he comes out and talks about the opposition. the only way to deal with opposition is by destroying them or annihilating them. this is what assad is saying. he comes out for a peaceful resolution and within 45 minutes he uses missiles against civilians. it's one of those i hear what you say, i see what you do. look at the russians as well and what they have been doing. lavrov just called secretary kerry a liar. they -- putin. weapons to the regime for the last two and a half years. can we even trust the russians, that's a big question.

>> how do you send u.n. inspectors into a war sozone, civil war, how do you find weapons hidden. >> that's a question. we know the assad regime has been moving these stockpiles all across the country. he has not been sincere dealing with previous inspectors. 14 months ago we had inspectors going to syria, he was not honest and sincere. when chemical weapons were used they were only about 10 kilometers away from where the u.n. inspectors were there. let the evidence show, u.n. inspectors are here, go right away in the first two or three hours. they lock them up for four to five days. when they say go inspector the location, they say, listen, you're only allowed to say whether chemical weapons are used or not, you're not allowed to say who used the weapons. that's the way the assad regime is dealing with the u.n. >> do you think the president is

letting you down? >> i understand he's doing his best. he's trying to workouts the united nations, thus trying to get that authorization from the congress. our message has been very consistent. we're looking for decisive action from the u.s. because the whole world is watching. not only assad regime is watching but north korea, hezbollah militias are watching. at this point syrians have been abandoned. they have been left to face the 13th largest army in the world. they are massacred. even outside of chemical weapons we have 110,000 fallen heroes, over 11,000 children dead and the world is sitting here watching. >> mr. saleh, thank you for being here. >> tonight two potential 2016 rivals come face-to-face when hillary clinton and jeb bush share a stage at the constitution center. bush will present the liberty medal, an annual prize for clinton on his distinguished work on human rights.

yesterday clinton weighed in for the first time echoing the obama's cautious approach. >> if the regime immediately surrendered its stockpiles to international control as was suggested by secretary kerry and the russians, that would be an important step. but this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction. it starts with something little, like taking a first step. and then another. and another. and if you do it. and your friends do it. and their friends do it... soon we'll be walking our way to awareness, support and an end to alzheimer's disease. and that? that would be big.

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right now the president is on capitol hill talking to senators in both parties after mitch mcconnell said today he would vote no. last night the president sat down with six news anchors

including our own savannah guthrie. >> are you confident you're going to get the votes? >> i wouldn't say i'm confident. i'm confident members of coping are taking this issue very seriously. >> would you act without congress? the answer can be yes, no, or i haven't decided. >> i think it's fair to say i haven't decided. i knew by bringing this to congress that there was a risk that the american people just could not arrive at a consensus around even a limited strike. because if you ask somebody, i read polls like everybody else, if you ask somebody, if you ask michelle, do we want can be involved in another war, the answer is no. >> the question now after the last minute flurry of diplomatic proposals, what exactly is the president going to ask congress to do. joining me daily fix capital correspondent kelly o'donnell and chris cillizza. kelly, there's going to be

confusion up there. i don't know how you frame a speech with a call to action when you don't want action. >> andrea, that's the word i was going to use with you, confusion. there's kind of a weirdness in the air. normally members of congress had a sense of how the next few steps may play out and you don't really get that feeling here. mix that with the president is here right now so there's a lot of extra security around the capital. add to it again the place where i'm coming to you from is filled with international media, too. it feels like a different day. in talking with senator schumer a short time ago, he said they are working on that alternative idea they might put forward. the impression i got from him, while they are working on it, none of it is going to happen quickly. talking to senator clinton john mccain, it's conversations ongoing. so we're in this holding pattern we had not predicted even 24 hours ago. many members i'm talking to want to know what the president will say. so those meetings he's having now are critical.

you also saw kind of a small flood of no announcements coming out, when it was clear that the current resolution as it stands right now seems to be dead. this was a window for those who want to be on the side of public opinion who want to come out as a no, allowing for diplomacy to move forward or retooled resolution on syria, so there might be a political moment there as well. it's an unusual day here, andrea. >> unusual is an understate, kelly. as you've just pointed out. chris cillizza, one of those nos was ed markey, he voted present. he holds the seat now john kerry held. just look look at the senator from massachusetts voting no against the administration. >> you know, andrea, i think kelly noted there's this window now. you and i have talked about this. i think if you looked at the whip count we've been building,

other folks have been building, it's been clear certainly in the house for a while that barring a real sea change that the resolution -- current resolution was not heading -- you've seen in the last 72 hours joe manchin, ed markey coming out against it now, rob portman, maybe some of those republicans the white house thought they might get. now it feels as though the resolution in the senate may be stalling. i am so fascinating, andrea. i think you've hit on it. i'm so fascinated to see what the president says tonight. he announced he was giving this speech during his press conference in russia on friday. we assumed that would be aimed at the american public, and to a large degree to congress to sway their opinion why they should vote for the resolution. that seems by the numbers, and certainly by what president obama said to savannah unlikely

unlikely now. is it a push for diplomacy? do we trust russia? is this the way we get out of what looks like a failed resolution in the house and senate? it seems to me a very different speech today than it would have been friday. >> chris cillizza, kelly o'donnell, we'll be back with more on this confusing policy coming out of the white house. stay with us. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today... will power us all... into the future. ♪ her busy saturday begins with back pain, when... hey pam, you should take advil. why? you can take four advil for all day relief. so i should give up my two aleve for more pills with advil?

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incidents where we were certain iranians would read it one way and they read it differently. i think in tehran they are probably glad because they think the u.s. isn't going to strike assad. that was certainly what they wanted. what it means for themselves, that's a completely different issue. since they think they are more important for the syrians you never know how they will read things. they see this as completely irrelevant. >> the president when he sat down with savannah guthrie talked about what kind of military strike are we talking about. kerry said we'd be minimizing it. here is what we said in terms of syria, vis-a-vis iran as well. >> syria doesn't have significant capabilities to retaliate against us. iran does, but iran is not going to risk a war with the united states over this, particularly given that our goal here is to make sure the chemical weapons are not used on children. and so it is very unlikely that

we would see the kinds of retaliation that would have a significant impact on u.s. interests in the region. >> you've just finished this volume on iran and iran's thinking. do you agree with the white house analysis that iran has military capability but not going to retaliate if the u.s. does use military strikes against assad. >> by and large i do. i think the president's analysis getting from the intelligence community is pretty much right. iranians have their own fish to fry. they are very concerned about their own sanctions. they are not looking for a war with the united states. i think the president is more or less correct, if we were to strike syrians, there probably wouldn't be a real response from the iranians. that doesn't mean we should take it for granted. iranians can be very unpredictable. there are elements of the iranian regime which may not necessarily be in full agreement with what their leadership

decides. we've seep them freelance from time to time. >> if we back down and let russians and syrians drag this out in the united nations, something we said over and over again we were not going to do, what's in tel aviv, does prime minister netanyahu say i'm going to have to take care of iran because american red lines don't matter. >> both israel and among our allies elsewhere in the region, this is just going to deepen their confusion about what the obama administration is going to do. it's going to diminish their confidence in the united states. i think you're raising an important point. this entire crisis with syria left them really baffled. they don't know where president obama is going to come down on any issue. it's under those circumstances that the israelis in particular, but particularly saudis or other countries might start thinking about what can we do unilaterally since we can't be sure what americans can do. >> is it possible to get a handle on all of syria's stockpiles, find out where it

is, have u.n. inspectors go in in the middle of the civil war. find it, verify it, destroy it. >> this is a great question. look back to the iraq example. it worked in iraq. we have to remember that. we did get iraquis, get saddam give up weapons of mass destruction. it took years. >> during '90s, before george w. bush. >> it took years to do, took years to get saddam to agree. maybe bashar will be smarter than saddam. as you point out, we weren't trying to do it in the middle of a civil war. trying to conduct business as usual inspections in the middle of a civil war, that's a really tall order. >> ken pollack, author of "unthinkable, iran, the bomb, and the american strategy." congratulations on the book. thanks very much. >> thanks for having me back. >> can apple bring back some of its old magic in an announcement earlier this hour. apple unveiled it's new iphone 5c, a cheaper version of its iconic phone in several colors,

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. chris, we now have seen yor officials a new time line indicating that the president and putin discussed this possibility a year ago and kerry discussed it again with lavrov last spring. >> i defer to you on all of this. this has risen, this possibility has risen as the likelihood of a

congressional house -- this has measured more in your diplomatic world than my straight political world. i wonder how much president obama spends talking to the world diplomatic community tonight and how many time he spends talking too the congressional world tonight in terms of his rhetoric and all of the rest. >> and the other thing is that kerry is about to be speaking with lavrov again. so the communicatirussians are communications and hollande and the americans at 4:00 today will be putting out a resolution at the security council, which is going to incorporate all of this. as we heard from the syrian opposition leader, it doesn't involve any punishment of assad for what he did do. a couple of other things coming up in the next 24 hours, hillary clinton receiving the medal from jeb bush at the constitution center in honor of her service, the liberty medal and of course the 12th anniversary of 9/11

tomorrow. >> huge week in politics. huge, none more so than this u.n. resolution. congressional possibility and president obama addressing the nation for the ninth time. a big day. >> chris, thank you so much. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." be sure to tune in tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern. and remember, follow the show online and on twitter at mitchell reports, my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation". >> in our next hour, breaking news on syria. president obama meeting with senators on capitol hill as a proposal to avert a military strike picks up some steam. what will the president say to the american people tonight in his address? will it shed light on this diplomatic deal? reaction from two lawmakers who say they are still undecided. plus we'll talk with presidential historian doug brinkley who said the president could emerge from this serious situation with a victory. and so-called pink slime,

ammonia treated beef, back on the menu at some of our nation's schools after causing a massive uproar last year. where is it now? next up on "news nation." ♪ we go, go, we don't have to go solo ♪ ♪ fire, fire, you can take me higher ♪ ♪ take me to the mountains, start a revolution ♪ ♪ hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution ♪ ♪ brand-new season, keep it in motion ♪ ♪ 'cause the rhyme is the reason ♪ ♪ break through, man, it doesn't matter who you're talking to ♪ [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. the all-new nissan versa note. your door to more. ♪ ♪ and i'll never desert you ♪ ♪ i'll stand by you yeaaaah! yeah. so that's our loyalty program. you're automatically enrolled, and the longer you stay, the more rewards you get. great! oh!

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right now on "news nation." president taking his message on syria to congress just hours before he addresses the nation. and it is back. outrage over pink slime in meat. several states say they have no choice but to serve it to kids in school this year. plus, a new twist, a school that forsed a little girl to leave because of her locks, changes its controversial policy. we'll update you on that one. first, breaking news, nbc news confirms president obama has agreed to consider a diplomatic proposal to avert a military strike against syria.

right now, the president is on capitol hill where he has spent the past few hours meeting with senate democrats and republicans. the president discussed the plan for u.n. talks with the leaders of france and great britain before traveling to the hill. the proposal would require syria to put its chemical weapons under international control. the u.n. security council is expected to hold an emergency close door session around 4:00 p.m. eastern time. meantime, syria's foreign minister spoke about the potential breakthrough in an exclusive interview with keir simmons in moscow. >> but unfortunately we started to raise some voices and britain and france and inside the united states, people who believe only in war. we believe that when we accept this proposal this means we put an end to the war.