WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement tonight after President Barack Obama delivered a national address on Syria’s chemical weapons:

“There is a reason why the vast majority of Americans disapprove of the work that Congress is doing. Vermonters and the American people want President Obama and Congress to focus on the major crises facing the collapsing middle class – high unemployment, low wages, growing wealth and income inequality, the high cost of college, global warming and many other issues.

“I believe that the American people share the president’s concerns about chemical weapons in Syria and the brutal Assad dictatorship. But, in overwhelming numbers, Vermonters are telling me they want those issues addressed diplomatically by the UN and the international community – not by unilateral military action on the part of the U.S.

“I am pleased to see that the president and his administration are now working with Russia, France, the UK, China and the United Nations to remove chemical weapons from Syria – without involving the United States in the bloody and complicated Syrian civil war. This is a good step forward.”