President Obama formally submitted a draft resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria to both houses of Congress on Saturday. Accordingly, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., both pledged to schedule a vote on the resolution soon after lawmakers return from their recess on September 9.

What happens next, however, is anyone's guess.

Some lawmakers expressed optimism on Sunday that Congress would rise to the occasion and pass the resolution. Others, however, predicted that the resolution would fail, to the detriment of America's image in the world, saying President Obama simply hasn't explained why U.S. intervention in Syria is in America's interest, despite the U.S. government's "high confidence" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad killed over 1,400 civilians in a chemical weapons attack on August 21.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Republican hawks who have long advocated deeper US involvement in Syria's civil war, met President Barack Obama as part of his efforts to sell US lawmakers on military action. McCain emerged from the meeting with a stern warning for fellow Republicans who may be considering voting against military action purely to damage the Democratic president.

"A vote against that resolution by Congress I think would be catastrophic," said McCain. "It would undermine the credibility of the United States of America and the president of the United States. None of us want that."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57600911/lawmakers-warn-congressional-vote-on-whether-to-strike-syria-could-fail/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h62wfMSIxaKjDPHoZS_VgUG2bLaw?docId=CNG.efefd3a64df9fd853cc6b84405fe1239.5c1&hl=en