News
May 19 2013
Officials described a devastating scene of shattered cars and other damage where two Metro-North trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in Connecticut, saying Saturday it's fortunate no one was killed as federal transportation officials continued their investigation into a possible cause.
Seventy-two people were sent to the hospital Friday evening after the crash, which damaged the tracks and threatened to snarl travel in the Northeast Corridor. The NTSB said a section of rail on the eastbound track had a fracture near the joint, though it's not clear if the accident caused the fracture.
Officials couldn't say when Metro-North service would be restored.
"The damage is absolutely staggering," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, describing the shattered interior of cars and tons of metal tossed around. "Ribbons of sides of the cars are torn away like ribbons of clothes."
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said it was "frankly amazing" people weren't killed on scene.
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May 16 2013
Washington –- Saying children should not have to walk down the halls where their classmates were slaughtered, Connecticut lawmakers introduced bills in Congress Thursday that would secure federal funds to build a new Sandy Hook Elementary School
Last week, town leaders in Newtown voted to tear down the existing facility and build a new one in its place. The cost, they said, could reach $60 million.
“I hope that our colleagues in Congress will agree that the little boys and girls at Sandy Hook Elementary shouldn’t be asked to walk the same halls where their classmates were slaughtered,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced the Sandy Hook school legislation in the Senate. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, who represents Newtown, introduced the bill in the House.
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May 15 2013
WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and U.S. Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (D-5) praised the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources’ approval of H.R. 316, the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act. The Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act would permit the towns of Canton, Avon, and Burlington to operate two small, currently inactive hydropower dams and generate locally produced power.
The bill was introduced by Congresswoman Esty in the House on January 18, 2013, passed by a voice vote on February 12, and has been shepherded by Senator Murphy through the Senate this session. Then-5th District Congressman Chris Murphy and Canton First Selectman Dick Barlow successfully worked to pass similar legislation in the House in 2010 and 2012. Both times, the Senate failed to take up the bill after passage in the House.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources’ approval puts the bill on track for consideration by the full Senate. “These two dams are already a beloved and long-standing symbol of the Farmington’s Valley’s rich history,” said Senator Murphy. “With this important bill moving forward in the Senate today, we can help make them a symbol of the Valley’s future as well—retrofitting them to provide clean energy to power thousands of Connecticut homes and businesses. I applaud my colleagues on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Congresswoman Esty for leading this charge in the House.”
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May 14 2013
FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. -- Fairfield County constituents had a chance to put questions directly - sort of - to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy as the Democrat from Connecticut hosted a Google Hangout on Monday.
Murphy first gave a quick summary of his recent work: reviewed some details of his recent trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria; criticized the automatic sequestration cuts to the federal budget; and give a quick recap of a speech he gave on continuing gun violence since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
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May 09 2013
Two years ago, I took a trip to Afghanistan, and when I returned, I wrote a behind-the-scenes account of the journey. I received a lot of positive feedback about the report, so having returned from another trip last week - this one to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Syrian border - I decided to write up another inside look at my first major overseas trip as your new U.S. Senator. So, without further ado, here it goes.
Monday and Tuesday - Turkey and Syria
Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana is leading the trip. Along for the ride are me, Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Representative Peter Welch of Vermont. Peter and I have travelled together twice before to Afghanistan, so it's nice to compare experiences to our previous trips.
Our plane leaves Washington at 7am on Sunday and we fly all day and evening until we arrive in Ankara, Turkey. We check into our hotel around 3:30am. The next morning, we head over to the U.S. Embassy to get briefed on Turkey's role in the Syrian crisis. It's clear our diplomatic folks have a great deal of respect for the humanitarian work Turkey has done on the border. At the end of the day, we meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul. I press one specific point with him - Turkey needs to take seriously the growing radical Islamist element of the Syrian opposition. Gul, through his interpreter, assures us that they have no interest in dealing with terrorists.
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April 20 2013
Democrat Chris Murphy, Connecticut’s junior senator and the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, highlighted his four keys to returning America to its former — and future — greatness in a recent talk at Y’s Men of Westport-Weston, then opened the floor to questions from this organization of retired men.
Mr. Murphy began by telling his audience that his former U.S. House district included Newtown, that what happened there was “ten minutes of mental illness masquerading as evil.” He received a call immediately following the massacre, went directly to Newtown and spent the day at the firehouse. Since then he has been “engulfed by thousands of acts of humanity” as the community came together.
Mr. Murphy’s prepared remarks addressed his four must dos to return to prosperity: the need to “get serious about our national indebtedness;” “invest in infrastructure, education and science;” create jobs and markets for renewable energy;” and “take advantage of our flexible work force.”
He stressed the importance of getting to a balanced budget. Today our government spends 24 percent of GDP, but takes in only 16 percent. Balance, Mr. Murphy said, means bringing both to 20 percent.
He said we must “tell the world and the capital markets we will get our house in order,” and that we have the ability to get there within six months.
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April 14 2013
For the original article, click here.
EVEN as he fights the N.R.A., Chris Murphy understands that guns are in the DNA.
The very junior senator from Connecticut, the father of two small boys, long ago decided not to allow any toy guns in the house or violent video games or even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“We have lots of trucks and trains,” he said, pausing before adding about his 4-year-old: “But you know it doesn’t matter. My son still picks up anything that’s shaped like a gun, like a certain construction of Legos, and uses it as a gun. But he knows that when I leave home I’m working on getting guns away from the bad guys, so he’s a little more sensitive now.”
At 39, Murphy is the youngest member of the Senate. He’s tall, attractive and crisp in blue shirt and blue striped tie. He was a blank slate and back-bench congressman before Newtown, known mostly for tweeting about Justin Bieber and surviving a more than $40 million onslaught by the WWE’s Linda McMahon in the 2012 campaign.
Gun safety was not his cause; his district didn’t include any big cities. But he was transformed by the massacre in serene Newtown of Sandy Hook’s “beautiful babies,” in Joe Biden’s words.
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April 11 2013
Before the horrific tragedy in Newtown claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators, I didn't pay much attention to the National Rifle Association.
As a three-term member of Congress, I certainly had caught wind of the mythology surrounding the group — largely, that it wasn't an organization to be crossed. But I had never endeavored to figure out whether its fearsome political reputation was real or imagined.
To the extent I thought about the NRA in the hours after the massacre, I naively assumed that in the wake of the most unthinkable episode of mass gun violence in our nation's history, it would come to the table and help us solve the problem.
But exactly one week after the slaughter, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, went before the cameras in Washington and demonstrated how far off the rails his organization had run. LaPierre's bizarre, pugilistic speech, calling for more, not fewer, guns in our schools, set down a marker that signaled the NRA's intent to stand in the way of any and all gun legislation that would come before Congress.
I was floored. And so I set about researching whether the popular perception of the NRA as an all-powerful representative of gun owners was real, or just a myth. As it turns out, the NRA is just one big paper tiger.
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April 10 2013
For the original article, please click here
In his first floor speech since taking office, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy accused Congress of “sitting on its hands” for 20 years as the nation became so accustomed to gun violence that “it’s just background noise.”
Murphy, who took office less than a month after a gunman murdered 20 first-graders and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, devoted his first floor speech entirely to gun violence. He said that as a lawmaker, “sometimes there are issues that find you.”
He said that thousands have been killed as a result of gun violence in the nearly four months since the Newtown massacre.
“It’s happening every day. And this country has gotten so callously used to gun violence that it’s just raindrops. It’s just background noise,” he said.
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April 04 2013
For the original article, click here.
With Gov. Dannel Malloy’s signature Thursday afternoon, Connecticut has become the latest state to enact strict gun control reforms.
But as WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reported, debate among lawmakers in Washington to implement tighter national gun laws has effectively stalled.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has worked both sides of the aisle on the issue, said Republicans are unwilling to consider even the basics.
“They were at the table talking about background check legislation and then they decided to walk away from the table. We’re still looking for Republican co-sponsors for our ban on high-capacity ammunition,” Murphy told Schneidau.
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March 28 2013
For the original article, please click here.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited Sikorsky Aircraft on Wednesday hoping to gain perspective from workers and executives most likely to be affected by the budget battle in Washington, D.C.
"I'm serious about getting a balanced budget," Murphy, a first-term senator, said. "But it shouldn't be done by making dangerous and draconian cuts."
Murphy kicked off a tour of Connecticut's defense manufacturers this week with stops at United Technologies subsidiaries Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford and Sikorsky in Stratford to learn from employees how billions of dollars automatic spending cuts, called sequestration, could impact them going forward.
Sikorsky employs nearly 9,000 workers in Connecticut and more than 131,000 people work in the aerospace and defense industries.
Murphy said he couldn't provide any guidance on the prospects of stopping further cuts because Republicans in the House of Representatives aren't engaging in a constructive dialogue.
"Republicans in the House seem perfectly happy with sequestration," Murphy said.
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March 24 2013
For the original article, click here.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy fielded questions ranging from the Keystone XL Pipeline to gun control to national debt at a town hall style meeting, Saturday afternoon at Torrington High School.
The town hall style meeting was the fifth in about three months, the last in a series around Murphy’s district. The bulk of questions asked were on gun control.
In a presentation before the question and answer portion of the town hall meeting, Murphy said there are four measures he wants in a gun control bill. He said federal background checks should be required for all gun transfers, eliminating the “gun show loophole.” That loophole allows “amateur,” unlicensed gun dealers to sell weapons without checking the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
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March 15 2013
For the original article - including audio - click here.
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - The passage of the assault weapons ban in Senate Judiciary Committee is a big step forward in the fight for common sense gun reforms, according to Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
Now, he’s gearing up for a battle in the full Senate.
Murphy said that even if the bill doesn’t pass in full, there are critical elements of it that must be considered.
“In particular this bill includes the ban on high capacity magazines and we need to get that passed, maybe more than anything else the fact that these assassins can walk into schools and movie theaters with 30 and 100 rounds is what leads to this mass destruction,” Murphy told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.
He said passage will take support from Republicans in the Senate and the House.
He believes it will be difficult for Republicans to turn their backs on a bill that he believes puts and end to the very worst elements of gun violence.
“I just ultimately don’t think that House Republicans will want to become the party of assault weapons and high capacity magazines,” he said.
There has been a renewed push for gun reform since December 14, when Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 students and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
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March 08 2013
For look at the original article, click here.
The deal Texas Motor Speedway and the National Rifle Association reached to call next month's race the NRA 500 is not sitting well with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.
Murphy, who has been at the forefront of the national discussion on gun violence prevention in the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December, is asking NASCAR to reconsider.
The Connecticut senator sent a letter to Brian France, chairman and CEO of the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing on Thursday, urging him to reconsider the financial agreement that makes the NRA the title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on April 13 in Texas.
“After the horrific mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators, the NRA has taken an unprecedented extreme position in the debate over the proper response to this tragedy, placing themselves at odds with the overwhelming majority of the American people, and even their own members,” Murphy wrote in the letter. “Given the emotional state of the national conversation, I believe it would be imprudent for NASCAR to step into such a heated political debate and take sides in this debate by allowing the NRA the title role in the race.”
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March 05 2013
For the original article, click here.
Chris Murphy seems like the only person who is being proactive about a serious issue that is getting attention around Connecticut and other states [March 5, Page 1, "Murphy Calls For Federal Investigation"].
I not only agree with Sen. Murphy's call for an investigation of these awful conditions for the developmentally disabled, but I believe that mandatory inspections of these privately run homes and government-financed facilities should be required by the state.
There is clear evidence that this issue merits immediate action, for we do not know when an act of neglect will happen again that results in a death for one of these citizens. I hold Connecticut to a high standard, and for the state to brush off this type of serious situation in which the lives of citizens are being pushed to the side not only makes me disgusted, it makes me question whether the Department of Developmental Services has citizens' best interests at heart.
Molly Martin, Ellington
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March 04 2013
For the original article, click here.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CBSNewYork) – Elected officials and members of the law enforcement community in Connecticut gathered Monday morning to push federal gun trafficking legislation.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy have co-sponsored a measure that would impose stiff penalties against buyers and sellers involved in illegal trafficking of firearms.
Background checks are required for those who buy guns, but the senators have proposed harsher restrictions on so-called straw purchases, which skirt the rules.
“The problem is that there are thousands of straw purchasers out there who go into a gun store and buy weapons, then turn around and sell them to people who are not legally allowed to own a gun,” Sen. Chris Murphy told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau. “Right now, it is not specifically illegal to traffic in guns – buy them from a licensed dealer and then turn around and sell them to people that shouldn’t own guns. The legislation we’re talking about today would make it a very specific crime to illegally traffic in guns.” Read More »
February 27 2013
Last night, another NRA-backed candidate lost a contested congressional election.
It's just the latest in a long line of defeats for the National Rifle Association, and their first since losing almost every one of their priority contests in 2012.
This is important because as early as this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to begin voting on actual legislation to reduce gun violence in the United States. And for a long time, the perception has been that crossing the gun lobby could lead to electoral problems.
Sign my petition letting members of the U.S. Senate know that you'll stand with them if they're attacked by the NRA for casting a vote for universal background checks, limiting magazine capacity, and an assault weapons ban.
http://www.chrismurphy.com/nra-losses
Things are about to heat up in this debate. I'll be in touch as the timeline for legislation gets a bit more clear.
Best,
Chris Murphy
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February 20 2013
For the original article, please click here.
NEW HAVEN — The nation’s youngest senator came to New Haven less than 60 days into his first term for a roundtable chat with a group of engaging city youths, who sometimes turned the table on the politician.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., not yet 40, asked survey questions of the group of students roughly 9 to 19 years old, chatted about school, family life and finding a passion in life at the 75-minute discussion in the basement of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church on College Street.
“I am very, very ... passionate about New Haven,” said Capria Marks, daughter of the Rev. Scott Marks, who introduced Murphy. “I hear stories of the Q House... the dances that used to happen at the Armory. And I hear about how Newhallville was this vibrant place... and I personally want to know how do you look at the violence and the drugs that happen in New Haven?”
Murphy said that’s why he’s asking questions about family and school and said he thinks violence results from a sense of powerlessness.
“What cities have to be about is hope,” Murhy said. “What cities have to be about is you’ve got a pathway to have a better life.”
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February 19 2013
For the orignal article, please click here.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is trying to convince his former colleagues in the House and his new colleagues in the Senate that there won’t be any retribution from gun owners at the polls, if they do the right thing and vote in favor of common sense gun control legislation.
During a conference call from Washington D.C. Monday, Murphy cited numerous polls that showed regular gun owners, including some who self-reported being members of the National Rifle Association, aren’t in lockstep with their lobby.
The most often cited poll was the one conducted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. That poll found 74 percent of NRA members support a requirement for a criminal background check on anyone purchasing a gun. Eighty-seven percent of non-NRA members support the same policy.
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February 18 2013
For the orignal article, visit ABC News.
Vice President Joe Biden is slated to travel to Connecticut this week to deliver remarks at a conference on gun violence about 12 miles from Newtown, Conn.
Chris Murphy, Connecticut’s newly elected Democratic senator, told reporters on a conference call today that Biden’s visit will help Newtown heal after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that sparked a national debate over gun control.
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