House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI)
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville says it was “appropriate and just” to conduct a missile attack on an airbase in Syria Thursday night.
President Donald Trump said he ordered the strike in response to Syria’s chemical weapons attack on its own people Tuesday — in which 86 people including 27 children, were killed. Media reports say the missile strike resulted in deaths, but it was not known how many.
Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said the U.S. strike was meant to send a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The speaker tweeted “the Assad regime can no longer count on American inaction as it carries out atrocities against the Syrian people.”
U.S Senator Tammy Baldwin also responded to the strike, saying in a statement that the United States has taken a “measured response” to a reprehensible attack on the Syrian people. However, the Democrat said she is concerned by what she described as a the lack of a clear and comprehensive strategy for Syria and the region. “I believe that the Administration must work with Congress as an equal partner regarding any additional military action and communicate its long-range goals and plans to the American people,” she said.