President Barack Obama gained support from House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday morning backing military action against Bashar al-Assad, the Associated Press reported.
"On the United States has the capability and the capacity to stop Assad and to warn others around the world that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated. I believe that my colleagues should support this call for action,"
Boehner told reporters after meeting with the U.S. President, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who also said she was give her support to Obama.
The administration has said it has evidence that Assad's regime was behind a chemical attack launched outside Damascus, which reportedly killed more than 1400 people.
"What we are envisioning is something limited. It is something proportional. It will degrade Assad's capabilities," Obama said. "At the same time we have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition."
The House and Senate return from their summer recess next week, and both chambers would have to approve the authorization.
Democrat Robert Menendez, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and presiding over the hearing involving Secretary of State John Kerry, said that while confident the resolution would pass Congress, it would only pass in an amended form.
"At the end of the day, (it) will strike the balance between the need to act and act in a way that meets our goals and not create an open-ended, boots-on-the-ground long-term proposition," he said.
Obama has been ridiculed in some circles for stalling on U.S. involvement in Syria.
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