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President Obama has scrapped a planned two-day trip to Los Angeles early next week ahead of a congressional vote on a military strike against Syria.
The cancellation of the trip suggests the urgency with which Obama needs to press his case to win approval from Congress for military action.
“The president's trip to California has been canceled,” a White House official said. “He will remain in Washington to work on the Syrian resolution before Congress.”
While prospects for passage of a resolution in the Senate look positive, the White House does not appear to have the votes in the lower chamber to win — at least not yet.
The president had been scheduled to speak to an AFL-CIO convention while in California, in what the White House had billed as a continuation of his middle class jobs tour.
He was also scheduled to attend a $32,400 per plate dinner at the home of Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of the sitcom "Friends."
According to an email obtained by T<he Hollywood Reporter, the fundraiser would be rescheduled for a date in “the near future.” Attendees were also offered a refund of their donation to the Democratic National Committee.
There were indications that Obama could be readying a national address to make his case for military action, which remains unpopular among lawmakers and the American public.
On Wednesday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said the president should address the nation from the Oval Office before any military action and predicted Obama would do so. Secretary of State John Kerry echoed that sentiment, saying at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing he believed the president would soon address the nation on the topic.
“I have no doubt the president will,” Kerry said.
On Thursday, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that while there was not “a particular speech planned at this point,” Obama “will be out there making the case to Congress and the American people.”
“He’ll have multiple opportunities to do so,” Rhodes said.
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