Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) warned of potential harmful consequences to passengers, airline employees and small communities if a proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines takes place.

“When these mergers happen, it seems to be that the haves — geographically — have more, and the cities that are smaller and needed the presence of these smaller airlines or smaller companies that get gobbled up by bigger companies lose out,” Murphy said during a roundtable discussion.

JetBlue has proposed buying Spirit in a $3.8 billion deal.