>> kristen welker at the white house. kristen, thanks. >>> the president's decision to delay military action inside syria seems to have empowered the assad regime. today, syria's president mocked the white house for what it called america's retreat. correspondent bill neely is on the ground in damascus. >> reporter: well, the first reaction here to president obama's decision came i'd say two minutes after he finished speaking at the white house, when syria's army began shelling rebel-held suburbs here in damascus after a day of quiet. after that came the mocking. one newspaper headline saying, "the american retreat starts here." the deputy prime minister saying obama's delay was "laughable." and today, i spoke to syria's deputy foreign minister, who said he wasn't surprised by obama's decision because he said obama and the administration are lost. they don't know what they are going to do. and he said he hopes the wise people in the u.s. congress would do what the mps in britain's house of commons have done and vote agains

nbc's kristen welker has the details. >> reporter: with the budget battle looming a surprise foreign policy announcement from the president. telling reporters that he called iran's president rue juan any on friday. senior administration officials say the call lasted 15 minute and came after rue juan any turned down a handshake with the president at the conference this weekend. after discussions on thursday between secretary of state john kerry and his iranian counterpart, things turned around. >> a path to a meaningful agreement will be difficult but i believe we've got a responsibility to pursue diplomacy. >> mr. rue juan any who also tweeted a photo of himself spent the week reaching out to the u.s. he also made assurances during a recent interview with ann curry. >> >> translator: we have never pursued or sought nuclear weapons and we are not going to do so. >> it's been more than 30 years, dating back to president jimmy carter just before the islamic revolution and the american hostage crisis which lasted more than a year. events that fostered decades long diplomatic freeze. >> i

we have team coverage for you with nbc's richard engel in turkey and kristen welker, who is at the white house. we'll start with you, kristen. with a good sunday morning to you, where does the situation stand this morning? >> reporter: good sunday morning to you, alex. as you say, white house has sent a residenolution over to congre. i'm holding it here. it is about a page and a paragraph long. congress will take this up the week of september 9th, the president deciding not to call them back early because of the jewish holiday, harry reid saying he will hold a vote on this resolution the week of the 9th. the future of this quite uncertain at this hour, alex. lawmakers were largely supportive of president obama's decision to put this to a vote in congress. as you know, for days they have been sort of mounting pressure on the president to put this to a vote. house speaker john boehner is saying he is pleased. tea party republicans like ted cruz, marco rubio, who are usually opposed to the president saying this is the right move. we are hearing also some opposition. representative peter kin

for the latest let's bring in nbc's kristen welker. kristen, thanks so much for joining me. >> reporter: thanks, karen, for having me. >> kristen, we're seeing members start to stream out of the briefings on capitol hill, and we've, you know, heard some sound from different members. it sounds like we're getting a sense of the kinds of questions that the white house is going to have to look to answer over the next week or so to get members comfortable with the resolution. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, and one of the striking things is that congress is sharply divided. you are seeing a range of opinions from the lawmakers who are filtering out of that meeting. some of the questions, as you mentioned, karen, include what specifically would a limited air strike accomplish? what would the strategy be? would that actually limit and prevent assad from continuing to use chemical weapons and to harm his own people? so those are some of the questions and some of the skepticism that we are hearing from members of congress. those are the to

for more let's go to white house correspondent kristen welker. hite house preparing for at this hour, kristen? >> well, krig in plain speak as you say, the white house is essentially digging in its heels. senior officials administration insisting all afternoon that the president is not going to negotiate on the issue of health care, what they view as his signature achievement. jay carney releasing a statement just before the vie to threat was issued. that statement reads in part, quote any member of the republican party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown. it's time for the house to listen to the people and pass a bill that keeps the government running and move on. >> to some extent the white house believes that they have some leverage in part because republicans are so divided over this issue. you of course have the tea party members really pushing this effort to defund or delay the president's health care law. but you have the more established republicans saying this is not the time to fight this fight. so some extent you are seeing

kristen welker is there live. what's the latest this afternoon?hat president obama stopped by a meeting that his staffers and other senior administration officials were having this afternoon. the topics, of course, included the implementation of the health care law. then, of course, ways to avert a government shutdown. we don't know exactly how long that meeting lasted. i can tell you the chief of staff dennis mcdonough has been holding meetings all weekend long with his economy team to discuss this impending and the possibility of a government shutdown. then, of course, also the implementation of the health care law. the white house at this hour, karen, continuing to dig in its heels. saying the president is not going to negotiate over the health care law. his signature piece of legislation. they point to the fact that the republican party remains fractured in their own strategy on this issue. i think ultimately, the calculation here at the white house is that republicans will blink. the question is, will that happen? their question before that a

thank you, kristen welker. toss it to martin bashir at a moment when the president is rejecting what he says as potential changes to the constitutional structure of this country. martin bashir, i'm sure you're going to have a lot to say about that. >> thank you,tory. good afternoon. friday, september the 27th and the president has just delivered a stern message to the speaker. this political grandstanding has real effects on real americans. ♪ the affordable care act is here. >> obamacare is the law. >> they have tried to put up every conceivable roadblock. >> they are more than happy to see the government shut

we're going to go live to kristen welker at the white house to ask about the decisions leading up to president obama's discussion yesterday as well as what we have just heard from the u.n. kristen. >> melissa, good morning. thanks for having me on. first to what the u.n. just said. you heard him announce they wanted to accelerate the time line of getting results from the u.n. inspectors. we had initially been told it would take two weeks. there's an efforts to get results earlier than two weeks. the u.n. findings have been the topic of a lot of discussion. the white house making the point that the u.n. is charged with determining whether or not there was a chemical weapons attack but not necessarily assigning blame, assigning responsibility to who is behind it. it sounds like they are trying to accelerate the process of getting results. in terms of your second question, melissa, the decision-making process here at the white house, we're learning more about that. senior administration officials say president obama was sort of internally torn about this all week as you know back in 2007

let's go to kristen welker.resident's decision all of the behind the scenes there. what's he saying? >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. secretary kerry making the case today on "meet the press" that part of the president's decision was driven by a desire to really be emboldened once he does launch a strike against syria. the secretary saying that president obama would be coming at it from a much stronger moral authority if he had congress onboard. remember, president obama was feeling isolated. the british parliament voted no to military action. he didn't have the u.n. and then you had the public that was very divided over this issue. secretary of state john kerry saying that president obama wanted congress onboard to feel emboldened and stronger going in. take a listen to more of what secretary kerry had to say. >> i hope and pray we'll be seeing careful deliberation as appropriate exercise of american constitutional process. the united states is strongest when the congress speaks with the president, when the a

kristen welker at the white house.hank you. so what will be open and what will be closed for the possible government shutdown? more answers ahead. >>> and later, saturday night life p live premieres with a fresh take on obama care. the actions, the reactions. everything has to synch up. my expenses are no different. receiptmatch on the business gold rewards card synchronizes your business expenses. just shoot your business card receipts and they're automatically matched up with the charges on your online statement. i'm john kaplan, and i'm a member of a synchronized world. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. tomato florentine soup, it took a little time to get it just right. [ ding ] ♪ but finally, it happened. perfection. at progresso, we've got a passion for quality, because you've got a passion for taste. some kind of... this is... an alien species. reality check: a lot of 4g lte coverage maps don't really look like much at all. i see the aleutian islands. looks like a duck. it looks like... am

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us live now from the white house with more. porter: first of all, the state department, the obama administration condemning this violence in the strongest terms, sending out their condolences to the families of those affected. state department officials saying they are in contact with local officials in nairobi about this ongoing, evolving situation. they believe that there are about ten gunmen, as many as 26 people have been killed and as many as 50 people have been injured. that's according to local officials there. the state department says. and they believe some of those injured may be americans, as you just pointed out. the state department is trying to work with local officials there to determine exactly who was injured, who has been killed now, all of this going on while al shabaab, the al qaeda-linked group based in somalia, sent out a tweet claiming responsibility for this attack saying that it is retaliation for kenya engaging militarily in somalia. the state department hasn't confirmed that that is the case. but they

kristen welker is live at the white house. kristen, good morning, where is this going? >> reporter: it seems the only thing democrats and republicans can agree on is a shut down seems likely after a house of representatives passed that piece of legislation overnight. mostly along party lines. it is a bill that the white house has threatened to veto. meanwhile, across the country, there is anger and frustration. >> you can yell all you want, but you can't -- >> reporter: it was fireworks on the house floor saturday night. >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. >> reporter: the debate rages in washington. a thousand miles away they're watching it all closely at the everglades national park in florida. if the government shuts down, the park would close. more than 250 employees likely furloughed. >> i've got a lot of dedicated national park employees that are concerned about being on an extended furlough. >> reporter: a shutdown seems more likely by the minute after the house passed a bill overnight that would delay the obama care for a year. >> tonight the republican m

. >> nbc's kasie hunt is on capitol hill and kristen welker is watching developments from the white house. kristen, let's start with you. we just heard from senator john mccain that he will meet with president obama tomorrow. let's listen. >> i am happy to say i have good lines of communication with the president and i'm confident that he wouldn't have asked me over to the white house if he didn't want my thoughts. >> so how badly does president obama need john mccain's support in making a case for strikes against syria? >> i think mccain's support is important. he's one of the more hawkish members of congress. mccain, lindsey graham, arguing to oust assad so to get some of the more hawkish members of the republican party onboard with a limited strike will be important. also if the president can run up the vote in the senate and get a nice robust vote there, that would put more pressure on the house to pass this measure. you will continue to see outreach to all members of congress. behind the scenes the president, secretary of state, vice president, will be working the phones. there will

let's get right to nbc's kristen welker at the white house. understand you got out of a meeting with senior administration officials. what's the latest? >> jonathan, a couple headlines. i think the biggest one is that senior administration officials are indicating that if there is a u.n. security council resolution, the united states would be open to that resolution, not including a use of force component. what does that mean? that essentially means that there need to be basically -- assad needs to be punished if he doesn't follow through with turning over his chemical weapons to the international community. what would those consequences look like? well, the administration won't get specific, but they indicated that a use of force component might be off the table. one senior administration official essentially acknowledging that russia would never agree to a use of force component. they wouldn't get specific, saying they're not going to start negotiating from here. however, they didn't rule out the possibility of sanctions or possibly calling

. >> for more on that reaction, let's go to nbc's kristen welker, traveling with the president today uri. kristen, the back drop for today's visit to a ford motor plant is a powerful symbol of that other big legislative achievement of 2009 for the president, the auto bailout. what's been the white house reaction, though, to today's vote, as well as the gop's civil war that's now brewing before us? >> hi there, martin. well, you're right. this was an economy-themed tour here in the outskirts of kansas city, missouri. but i can tell you, the president had a strong, succinct message for republicans. he said in his words, quote, do your job. the president's strategy right now is to sort of take his message about the economy on the road, criticize republicans and let republicans duke it out amongst themselves. that is what is happening right now. in the wake of that vote in the republican-controlled house today, you had some conservative members, tea party members of the party saying this was the right move, but then a lot of those more establishment republicans criticizing members of thei

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let's turn now to nbc's kristen welker live at the white house. ten, you know, this kind of came out of nowhere. still pushing, though, the need to rid syria's chemical weapons? >> reporter: right. in a couple of highlights, i would say, abby, one you heard secretary kerry call on the u.n. security council to pass a resolution next week making the point that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not everyone is entitled to their own set of facts. that, of course, a reference to the fact that syria's president bashar al assad and russian officials continue to dispute the fact that the syrian regime was behind that chemical weapons attack on august 21st. so secretary kerry trying to get ahead of the conversation before he heads to the u.n. with strong words making the point and urging the u.n. security council to pass a resolution which would require syria to turn over its chemical weapons. so that is sort of the background to those comments. i can tell you, to give it a little bit more context, abby, just yesterday a state department offic

kristen welker is outside the white house with more for us. >> reporter: good morning, lester. president obama has called it an important concrete step. he also acknowledged there's a lot of work that remains unfinished, and uncertain. after marathon talks in geneva, secretary kerry and his russian counterpart sergey lavrov discussed the chemical weapons. >> there can be no games, no room for avoidance. >> reporter: how does it all break down? the proposed timeline is ambitious. syria has to provide an account of the chemical weapons within a week. inspectors on the ground by november and the entire stockpile destroyed or removed by the middle of next year. left unsaid, what happens if syria doesn't comply. those details are still being worked out. and could include sanctions. but in a concession to russia, the u.s. has said the u.n. resolution doesn't have to threat p military action. white house officials insist the president has the right to launch a military strike without the u.n. if assad stalls. >> the president of the united states always retains the right to defend the

back to you guys. >> kristen welker with the president in kansas city where the royals are do better than my yankees which is also infuriating. let's talk to molly ball who won quiz masters 2,000. let's talk about this obama care shutdown threat because it is just a threat. people are telling me it may not actually happen but the threat will go right up to the brink. karl rove wrote about it in "the wall street journal", it is praise worthy but any strat by to repeal delay or replace the law must have a credible chance of succeeding the de-funding strategy does not. it is an ill conceived tactic and republicans should reject it. i do understand the theater is valuable in gaining media and fundraising and my side of the aisle, that guy from the god father, like let them lose their souls but we have a world where there are two parties that both function as adults. why are they having this bizarre strategy? >> i think you give them too much credit to call them a strategy. this is completely disorganized from the republican side. they do not for lack of a better word know what they are d

we have discovered from both sides of capitol hill, kristen welker at the white house, luke russert on the hill. kristen, let's start with you. give us the highlights. >> hey, abby. that's right. president obama slamming congressional republicans for threat tong shut down the government over defunding his health care law. he's also on a bit of an explaining campaign. of course, polls show that a majority of americans still don't really understand the health care law. it's not all that popular. but when you break it down to its individual pieces, it gets a whole lot more popular. so the president today trying to build up public support for his health care law as he pressures congressional republicans and he did so by highlighting a couple of key facts. one, the fact that young adults can stay on their parents' plans until they're 26 years old. insurance companies can't deny people coverage for pre-existing conditioning and also have to coffer things like prescription drug costs. the president using the example of maryland, to say that a 25-year-old living there who makes about $25,000 w

joining me now is msnbc news correspondent kristen welker, and, kristen, my head is spinning at the rapidity of today's developments, which am i wrong as an observer on the outside and i've been doing a little reporting talking to people around the white house and so forth, this was not a planned rollout of this idea, john kerry speaking in england today before the british foreign office, to get from that point a to the president's point b interview, this is not what everyone's expecting when this day began. >> you're absolutely right. this was not a planned rollout, this was not an official offer. i think it's important to point out, though, it comes against the backdrop of conversations like this going on behind the scenes between secretary kerry and his counterparts. president obama said that he addressed this idea with president putin. however, they didn't put a whole lot of weight to this idea. that's why you heard secretary kerry sort of dismiss it as soon as he brought it up. but what happened today in my conversations with the white house is that the response by the russians, by the

we have kristen welker on the line in the briefing room right now with the president going to speak anyute now. what do you expect we'll hear from the president? >> reporter: well, i and that he will of course response to the vote that just occurred in the senate. they voted along party lines to continue funding the government through part of november. it is a clean bill, essentially meaning it will not touch the president's health care law at all. republicans have been fighting that. they wanted the spending measure to defund president obama's health care law. now it goes back to the house of representatives and they will take it up tomorrow and debate this. and i'm told by my sources that they are really going to push to have some type of measure in the spending bill which scales back the president's health care law. back to you. >> thanks for that report. just to reiterate, the importance of that, the senate has not moved. it is controlled by democrats and while there was a lot of noiz about delays and cloture votes, the clean cr means they want to move forward with fighting the gove

. >>> let's go now to nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and political reporter casey hunt. i want to start with you, lates. i know president obama spoke with president kenyatta from kenya. what can you tell us about that call? >> reporter: we know president obama did place that call earlier today to the president of kenya. offered his condolences. also offered the full support of the american people as kenya endures this tragedy that they are going through right now. we also know that the president reiterated that the u.s. stands with apartner, as a partner with kenya in fighting terrorism. this all comes as we're getting a little bit of news, karen. according to nbc's richard es powe see toe who's been talking to local and federal authorities, the fbi and its local joint terrorism task force are currently trying to track down leads about tweets that have been put out by the terrorists. those tweets suggest that there may be americans among the attackers. again, they're trying to track down these leads. this is not confirmed right now. those tweets suggest there could be as

joining me now from the white house, nbc's kristen welker. with a good sunday morning to you, my friend, let's talk to the administration and how they are reacting to the house bill passed, i keep saying last night, but in the wee hours. >> couple hours ago. the white house is sticking to its guns just before that veto threat was issued, jay carney put out a statement, alex, saying, "any member of the republican party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown." the sense behind the scenes here at the white house echoes was kelly is saying, is the sentiment on capitol hill, which is a shutdown is getting increasingly likely. every moment, the white house is just not going to budge on this issue of the president's health care law. they are not going to support something that defunds it, and they are not going to support something that delays it. in part, they believe they have t leverage in this fight and they also see a public that has said they would put the blame mostly on republicans if the government were to shut down. having said t

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house with more for us. kristen? >> reporter: lester, good evening. today lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were skeptical about whether syria waste president bashar al assad will cooperate, and president obama defended what he said is an important first step and could eventually lead to a political settlement of the bloody civil war. this morning heated debate about the diplomatic deal which calls on syria to turn over all of its chemical weapons by the middle of next year. >> i think it's a loser, because i think it gave russia a position in the middle east which they haven't had since 1970. >> i think this agreement is a very positive step. >> we have been remiss. we have announced that we're doing something, but what we have done certainly have not been at the pace that should it be. >> this progress would not have been achieved without the threat of the use of a military strike by president obama. >> reporter: in an interview taped friday before news of the deal, president obama argued the progress is signifi

. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen of course has been following all the developments. so with a good sunday to you, my friend. any progress this week over the effort to avert the shutdown? >> reporter: the last time president obama spoke with house speaker john boehner was on friday night when he placed that phone call to say he's not going to negotiate over the debt limit. so it seems as though both sides just digging in their heels. of course they dug them in more deeply on the sunday morning talk shows. and it all revolves around this issue of the president's health care law. it's an issue that's really dividing congressional republicans. it is politically perilous for them. this bill has virtually no chance of passing through the senate. and of course it's tough to see president obama signing off on a piece of ledge slau piece of legislation that would defund his own health care law. here's what he had to say last night at the congressional black caucus dinner. take a listen. >> some of them were actually wi

kristen welker is at the white house for us.ext 48 hours with word that house republicans are putting obama care language back into the spending bill? >> well, alex, good afternoon. i anticipate there will be meetings here at the white house today throughout the weekend, outreach to the hill. i can tell you based on my latest conversations with officials here at the white house, the president holding firm. he is not going to agree to any legislation that scales back his health care law at all. so this is a real standoff. a government shutdown looking increasingly more likely. take a listen to what president obama had to say in his weekly address. >> i don't know how to be more clear about this. no one gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the united states of america just to extract ideological concessions. no one gets to hurt our economy and millions of innocent people just because there are a couple of laws that you don't like. it hasn't been done in the past. and we're not going to start doing it now. >> alex, i can a

. >> joining me now with more, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. good sunday to you, kristen. i know you were watching these sunday talk shows today. the deal did not get a lot of support. how has the white house been framing it? >> reporter: well, good afternoon, alex. president obama, the white house stressing that this is an important first step but also acknowledging that there is a lot of work that remains and also a lot of uncertainty. but you're right. lawmakers flocked to the sunday talk shows, many of them criticizing this deal. republicans, including senator john mccain, calling this a victory for president vladimir putin. those democrats who say they support the deal also expressed a fair amount of skepticism about whether or not president bashar al assad will follow through with this plan that's been put in place. here's a little bit more of what president obama had to say specifically on that point, about whether or not this is a victory for vladimir putin. take a listen. >> i know sometimes this gets framed or looked at through the len

kristen welker is life at the washington. >> reporter: president obama's message to congress, do your job. this as lawmakers engage in chicken over the nation's economy with the ball now in the senate's court. as washington careens toward a possible government shutdown, this morning, president obama is blaming the republicans in his weekly address. >> i will not allow anyone to harm this country's reputation or threaten to inflect economic pain on millions of people just to make an ideological point. >> reporter: this a day after the house to keep the government reasoning. it's a bill that has no chance of passing in the democratically-controlled senate. the tea party pushed passage of the measure who defended the move on friday. >> the american people don't want the government shutdown and they don't want obamacare. >> reporter: but other republicans sided with democrats and slammed the more conservative members of their party. >> the issue is important. it requires real conservative solutions, not headline hunting. >> reporter: the big question? what would a government shutdown mean

kristen welker, let's talk what the president is more likely to do, make a few phone calls today? >> that is certainly possible. right now, he's playing a round of golf. however, i would anticipate there will be some outreach between the white house and the hill throughout the weekend because alex, bottom line, this is politically peril lous for everyone. the republicans seem to really be going out on a limb because their strategy has sharply divided their party. you have tea party republicans, the more conservativetive branch of the party arguing it is the right thing to do to defund obama care. but then the more establishment republicans say it's political suicide. they basically say that this type of bill is not going to pass through both chambers so what's the point. having said that, republican leadership defending this move and making the point the ball is now in the senate's court. take a listen. >> let's defund this law now and protect the american people from the economic calamity that we know obama care will create. americans back home are fighting for their families. an

i'm kristen welker in for chuck todd who is traveling to cover this week's g-20 summit. we begin in syria the president and his advisers have a week, maybe less, to sell a skeptical congress on the need for military intervention in syria. in doing so they are kicking off what may be the most contentious policy debate since the iraq war. this hour the president meets with the head of senate committees on armed services, foreign relations and intelligence as well as their counter-parts in the house. this afternoon secretary of state kerry, hagel and joint chairman dempsey will testify at a hastily convened hearing. the committee will hold a top secret closed door briefing with kerry and the director of national intelligence james clapper tomorrow. the house foreign affairs committee will hear from kerry and hagel tomorrow. to hope secure republican support president obama turned to an old adversary inviting senator john mccain and his colleague lindsey graham to the white house to discuss the issue. mccain said this morning that the president has put himself in a difficult

kristen welker is live with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. that's right, president obama will take on the all too familiar role of comforter in chief, when he speaks at that memorial service a little bit later on today, from tucson, arizona, to aurora, colorado, newtown, connecticut, all too familiar with delivering these speeches in the wake of a mass shooting. i anticipate he will pay tribute to the victims as he has in the past. he'll offer words of support. he often draws from scripture in these settings. what i don't expect is it to be a repeat of the newtown speech. that was more of a call to action. it claimed the lives of so many young children, we saw president obama, congressional democrats really renew a stiffer push for gun legislation, with i would have included expanded background checks. they had broad public support. ultimately that legislation didn't even make its way through the democratically-controlled senate. so based on my conversations here at the white house and with those on capitol hill, there doesn't seem to be a re

. >> kristen welker is at the white house joining us right now. kristen, let's talk about this. the white house's strategy for pushing obama care, as we get down to october 1st, how much of an impact do they hope the former president is going to have on selling health care law information to the skeptics? >> reporter: well, thomas, they are hoping that he will be instrumental. you'll remember that he played a big role in the president's re-election campaign, so they're hoping that he can help out in this latest campaign. so i anticipate that we will be hearing a fair amount from former president bill clinton in the coming days and weeks. in terms of his specific argument, i anticipate that we will hear him reiterate some of the comments that he made yesterday. namely, that insurance and inflation on insurance prices have dropped three years consistently and that ultimately he would say this is creating more competition and there by lowering costs in the marketplace. this all comes on a day that the obama administration has released a new report showing that premiums have come in

>> all right, kristen welker at the white house. thank you very much for giving us those rapidly moving details. >>> this story this hour developing, catastrophic flooding in colorado has sent.residents scrambling for their lives. the national guard hases are cued hundreds of people from isolated towns likelions and jamestown cut off after days of heavy rain. >> the house is sitting in a river. >> we should get out because the dam up there wasn't too safe. >> yesterday, it was terrifying because they said you got to get out now. >> it's kind of an island that's surrounded by rushing water and we didn't have electricity or water or gas. it's devastating to be honest. it's complete destruction. >> at least four people have died and 218 others unaccounted for. however, those unaccounted for are not necessarily considered missing but they have not yet contacted friends or family. and the state is not in the clear yet. more rain is in the forecast. let's go to boulder, colorado. joe is standing by for us. how bad is the situation there,