WASHINGTON, Dec. 16  – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Federal Reserve announced that it would raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade:

“When millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates is bad news for working families. At a time when real unemployment is nearly 10 percent and youth unemployment is off the charts, we need to do everything possible to create millions of good-paying jobs and raise the wages of the American people. The Fed should act with the same sense of urgency to rebuild the disappearing middle class as it did to bail out Wall Street banks seven years ago.”