ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: U.S. President Obama praised Congress for backing the Administration plan to arm Syrian rebels.<br/> <br />"I believe we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together," he said after the Senate voted 78-22, in a rare bipartisan show of support for one of Obama's high-profile initiatives.<br/> <br />Obama sought the authorization to have some congressional buy-in for his plan to stop the violent Islamic State militants, whose takeover of large parts of Iraq and Syria is seen as a threat to U.S. national security.<br/> <br />Obama also said that France will join in strikes against Islamic State and that more than 40 countries have joined in the coalition against the militant group.
