Video: Barack Obama confident of Congress backing Syria military action Mr Obama met congressional leaders at the White House as part of his push to win over support for his request for authorisation for limited military strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, in response to last month's alleged sarin gas attack outside Damascus. He indicated that he was willing to look at changing the language of the resolution to address lawmakers' concerns, but urged them to hold a prompt vote. Mr Obama said he was serious about consulting Congress, as long as the final resolution sends a clear message to President Assad and hampers his ability to use chemical weapons. The key point that I want to emphasise to the American people: the military plan that has been developed by our Joint Chiefs, and that I believe is appropriate is proportional, it is limited, it does not involve boots on the ground. This is not Iraq and this is not Afghanistan," he said. This is a limited, proportional step that will sent a clear message, not only to the Assad regime, but also to other countries that may be interested in testing some of these international norms, that there are consequences. It gives us the ability to degrade Assad's capabilities when it comes to chemical weapons," Mr Obama said. The meeting in the White House Cabinet room was attended by congressional leaders from both the Democrat and Republican parties in the House and Senate.