HARTFORD --  Senator Chris Murphy announced Wednesday a legislation to protect and grow manufacturing jobs here in Connecticut.

It's all part of the "American Jobs Matter Act" to get those manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Murphy said the new act would require the Department of Defense (DoD) to take into account U.S. jobs when awarding government contracts to manufacturers.

“Every contract DoD gives to a company abroad means fewer jobs here at home in the United States,” said Murphy. “The manufacturers I stood with today agree—we should be using the billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money that our government spends on manufactured goods to support American businesses and American workers. My American Jobs Matter Act is a commonsense way to make sure that happens.”

Murphy said since 2007, the Department of Defense spent over $200 billion on goods manufactured by foreign firms. During the same period of time, the United States lost over 1.7 million manufacturing jobs.