Connecticut Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal announced today the inclusion of $76.6 million for Connecticut Congressionally Directed Spending projects in the five Appropriations bills passed by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. This marks the first step in the process, with funding only made available when the bill is passed by... Read More about CT Senators announce $76.6M for state projects. Here’s how it’s being spent

U.S. Sen Chris Murphy visited Camp Courant Friday to announce newly proposed federal legislation that would invest billions of dollars into free summer programs for kids across the country. The Hartford camp, which bills itself as the largest and oldest free summer day camp in the country, serves hundreds of children each year. It would be among... Read More about Free summer camp for more kids? Murphy pitches $4B investment

Many immigrants would have an easier path to challenging court decisions in deportation cases under legislation a top Senate Democrat plans to introduce Thursday. The measure from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) would update the legal standard for noncitizens claiming they had ineffective lawyers — bringing the process in line with other US court... Read More about Top Border Negotiator Eyes Narrower Changes in Immigration Bill

HARTFORD, CT – As the Federal Trade Commission prepares to enforce its ban on non-compete agreements (NCAs), the agency’s chair spoke in Hartford about some of the gaps that could still remain when the rule goes into effect. FTC Chair Lina Khan said Friday that the commission’s new rule – which goes into effect in September if it’s not struck down... Read More about FTC Chair: New Non-Compete Agreement Rule Raises Floor, But Still Leaves Gaps

US Sen. Chris Murphy introduced new legislation last week to modernize the Job Corps and help connect youth to employment in strategic fields of national importance. The bill, named the Job Corps for the Next Generation Act, is co-sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island. It takes several steps to improve the Job Corps, including improving the... Read More about Murphy Introduces Legislation To Modernize Job Corps

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said Sunday the Supreme Court is “readying to fundamentally rewrite the Second Amendment” after striking down a federal ban on bump stocks. Recent gun-related rulings from the high court, Murphy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” signal it is prepared to “take away permanently the ability of Congress to do... Read More about Sen. Murphy says Supreme Court is readying to ‘fundamentally rewrite’ Second Amendment after bump stock ruling

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan visited Hartford Friday to speak with labor leaders, state lawmakers and worker advocates about her agency’s new ban on so-called “non-compete” language in job contracts. The rule, finalized earlier this year, prohibits non-compete clauses, which are commonly used in a range of industries to restrict... Read More about FTC’s Lina Khan says CT could fill ‘gaps’ in non-compete ban

Come September, U.S. workers will no longer be subject to noncompete clauses that keep them from working for rival companies. Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan visited Connecticut on Friday to talk about the new rules. Khan, who met with workers and lawmakers at the Building Service Workers Union (32BJ SEIU) in Hartford, said noncompetes... Read More about Noncompete clauses will be banned in September. What does that mean for CT?

For the last 85 years, Harvard has run a longitudinal study on human happiness. Researchers track thousands of participants, wealthy and poor, married and single, and ask them detailed questions about their lives every two years. The study's conclusion about what drives happiness is pretty simple. Your ability to put food on the table and keep a... Read More about How Neoliberalism Cuts Off Community

FRANKLIN - Chris Murphy is in the middle of a sentence walking down Route 32, when a man driving a white pickup truck slows and rolls down his window to call out the attention of the junior senator from Connecticut.  "How's it going senator?" the driver yells, his voice lowering once he sees Murphy is listening. "Can we stop sending money to... Read More about Sen. Chris Murphy walks across Connecticut and Biden, NIMBYism and loneliness are on the mind

MYSTIC, CT – US Sen. Chris Murphy finished up his annual walk across Connecticut on Thursday, and said the ritual gives him a chance to hear from constituents about "kitchen table issues" that matter to them. Murphy said the issues that are constantly covered on the major broadcast news channels aren't the ones that cut to the heart of Connecticut... Read More about Chris Murphy finishes his annual cross-state walk in Mystic

MYSTIC, CT – US Sen. Chris Murphy finished up his annual walk across Connecticut on Thursday, and said the ritual gives him a chance to hear from constituents about "kitchen table issues" that matter to them. Murphy said the issues that are constantly covered on the major broadcast news channels aren't the ones that cut to the heart of Connecticut... Read More about Murphy Finishes Annual Walk Across Connecticut, Says People Remain Focused On ‘Kitchen Table’ Issues

One foot in front of the other, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy kicks off a weeklong walking journey from the north end of Connecticut to the south. “Today, I'll walk somewhere between 15 and 18 miles,” Sen. Murphy (D) said. It’s not a journey to log steps, but to connect with constituents. “Every single day I’ll talk to dozens if not 100 or so people, and... Read More about Senator Murphy steps off on ‘Walk Across Connecticut' to connect with constituents

On gun control, health care and immigration, Christopher S. Murphy has gained ground by building coalitions. On the project to refabricate and rehang a portion of Alexander Calder's "Mountains and Clouds" sculpture in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, he's tilting at windmills on his own.  "I might be a bit of a Don Quixote on this,"... Read More about ‘We have half a piece of art’: Chris Murphy continues quest to reinstall Calder clouds

WASHINGTON — The Senate floor is typically the setting for speeches on foreign policy or spending battles or the occasional vote. But on a summer Thursday last year, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut went to the floor to discuss a rarer topic for the room. “I’m here to talk about loneliness,” Murphy said. Murphy had been grappling with why Americans... Read More about A bipartisan odd couple takes on hefty problems: Division and loneliness

The town of Scotland has about 1,500 residents – and six ZIP codes. And that’s created all sorts of issues in the eastern Connecticut town: Lost mail. School zoning confusion. Voter registration hiccups. Incomplete vital statistics. Frustrated town officials are now turning to Congress for help. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney... Read More about This One Small CT Town Has 6 ZIP Codes, Causing Confusion. Congress May Have A Solution

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday that the U.S. has “no obligation” to hand over a blank check to any of their allies after the Biden administration said it would be narrowing some bomb shipments to Israel. Murphy pushed back on Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) recent comments about supplying aid to Israel on CNN’s “State of the Union” on... Read More about Murphy: ‘We have no obligation to write a blank check of military support to any of our allies’

President Joe Biden has ignited criticism from both the left and right as he attempts to balance his response to Israel’s war in Gaza. That might be a good thing, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday. “I think frankly, when you’re being a good leader, you are often upsetting people on the right and the left,” Murphy said Sunday during an... Read More about Chris Murphy: If Biden Can’t Please Left Or Right On Israel, Maybe That’s A Good Thing

Are you skeptical of bipartisan dialogues and commissions that pretend away differences in a chase after a lowest-common-denominator “center”? Me, too. Yet there is good reason to be weary of a political culture so saturated with negative partisanship and mutual mistrust that it makes discussing our nation’s most intractable problems impossible.... Read More about A Republican And A Democrat Confront Our Era Of Bad Vibes

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. and Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox are joining forces to try and address a vexing problem plaguing the U.S.: Americans are less and less happy. Today, the pair is launching the “Restoring the Common Good Initiative,” a bipartisan effort they describe as a way to move away from the divisive politics of Washington and... Read More about A Bipartisan Pair Aims To Solve America’s Happiness Problem