Washington (April 6, 2017) - - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tonight released the following statement after President Donald Trump announced the United States carried out a missile strike in Syria in response to the Assad government’s chemical weapons attack.

“Tonight, President Trump took action, but the suffering of the Syrian people cannot cease without a concrete plan to ensure a diplomatic end to this civil war. I expect President Trump and his national security team to fully brief Congress and the American people on his complete plan to stop the Assad regime’s cycle of violence. This military escalation would not have been necessary if Russia had kept its commitment to take these weapons out of the hands of the regime. It is imperative that President Trump lays out his next steps to ensure the consequences of this military action do not lead us down a slippery slope ending in greater risk for our men and women in uniform.”

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