President Obama holds news conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In a news conference on Tuesday, President Obama addressed a number of issues, including the supposed use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria, against his own people. President Obama had previously said that the use of chemical weapons would constitute a "game-changer" in the Syrian conflict.

A reporter pressed the President on what he meant by "game-changer," and whether this would mean U.S. military involvement in the Syrian conflict.

"By 'game-changer' I mean that we would have to rethink the range of options available to us," President Obama said. "Obviously there are options available to me that are on the shelf that we have not employed."

The President was also questioned about claims that survivors of the Benghazi terror attacks -- some of whom were in the State Department -- were being held back from testifying in hearings by members of his administration.

"I'm not familiar with this notion that anyone has been blocked from testifying," the President said, promising to look into the matter. "What I've been very clear about from the start is our job with respect to Benghazi is to find out what happened."

The President also made comments about the current political stalemate over issues such as the ongoing sequester.

"It comes as no surprise…that right now things are pretty dysfunctional on Capitol Hill," he said.

He called on members in Congress to work to end the sequester.

"We need to lift it," he said, adding that the country needs a, "bigger deal that meets the test of lowering our deficit and growing our economy at the same time." He said this would require tough decisions by both Republicans and Democrats.