President Barack Obama is going to Congress on Tuesday with fresh hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough that would allow Syria's government to avert U.S. missile strikes if it surrenders its chemical weapons arsenal. He then addresses the nation from the White House Tuesday night.

Obama had planned to use Tuesday's meetings to lobby for his plan of targeted strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in retaliation for last month's chemical weapons attack outside of Damascus. Instead, he signaled in several interviews Monday evening that new diplomacy involving Russia and others could eliminate the risks of a repeat chemical attack without requiring an American intervention.

Syria's foreign minister on Tuesday said the country has accepted Russia's proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for subsequent dismantling. The proposal emerged Monday after a comment from Secretary of State John Kerry was taken up by Russia, and the United Nations expressed support.

Obama and his administration also expressed careful support.

“The key is, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, that we don't just trust, but we also verify,” Obama told CBS. “The importance is to make sure that the international community has confidence that these chemical weapons are under control, that they are not being used, that potentially they are removed from Syria and that they are destroyed.”

He added, “There are a lot of stockpiles inside of Syria,” he said. “It's one of the largest in the world. Let's see if they're serious.” Obama said he discussed the potential plan for Syria to surrender its chemical stockpiles with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

The dramatic shift in Obama's tone came after threatening tough reprisals on the Assad regime and pushing a skeptical Congress to authorize him to use military force against Syria. The first vote in Congress on the issue had been expected Wednesday, but that has been delayed.

Obama now stresses that strikes on Assad's government are only a “very narrow military option.”

All sides, from lawmakers to Russia, Syria's closest ally, seemed to welcome the chance to try another option with the proposal to have Syria surrender its chemical weapons.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that his country was working with Syria to prepare a detailed plan of action. Lavrov said Russia will then be ready to finalize the plan with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

France's foreign minister said France will offer a resolution in the U.N. Security Council aimed at forcing Syria to make public its chemical weapons program, place it under international control and dismantle it.

In his interviews, Obama declined to say what he would do if lawmakers rejected his proposal for limited military strikes on Syria. But he told CBS that he didn't expect a “succession of votes this week or anytime in the immediate future.”

The resolution in the Senate would authorize limited military strikes for up to 90 days and forbids U.S. ground troops in Syria for combat operations. Several Democrats and Republicans announced their opposition Monday, joining the growing list of members vowing to vote “no.”

Sen. John McCain, among Congress' most outspoken advocates of American intervention in Syria, said Tuesday he would introduce an amendment to the resolution that would require international monitors to verify that Syria is complying with the chemical weapons plan and to certify that certain compliance benchmarks be met.

Sixty-one percent of Americans want Congress to vote against authorization of U.S. military strikes in Syria, according to an Associated Press poll. The poll, taken Sept. 6-8, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

McCain said he was skeptical of Russia's intentions.

“But to not test it would also be a mistake,” he said. (AP)