WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee and the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)  joined a bipartisan group of more than three dozen U.S. Senators led by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) in support of robust funding for the Fiscal Year 2018 International Affairs Budget. In a letter to the respective Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees, the senators point to the wide-ranging support for a strong International Affairs Budget among national security experts, including more than 120 retired generals and admirals and now-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who said while Commander of the U.S. Central Command, “If you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.”

“At a time when we face multiple national security challenges around the world, deep cuts in this area would be shortsighted, counterproductive, and even dangerous,” wrote the senators. “There is no question that we must conduct assertive oversight, scrutinize the value of every program, and eliminate waste and inefficiency – including within the International Affairs Budget.  However, deep cuts to the International Affairs Budget would undermine our country’s economic and national security interests, as well as the humanitarian and democratic principles we support.”

To read the full text of the letter, including a list of all 43 signees, click here.

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