WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, on Tuesday released the following statement after President Biden’s first address as President before the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly:

“This is a critical moment for the U.S., and President Biden’s decision to end the war in Afghanistan was proof of this administration’s willingness to get America off a permanent war footing in order to focus on a new chapter of intensive diplomacy and smart power projection,” said Murphy. “We need to understand that most of the pressing challenges to global security—Chinese economic expansionism, Russian propaganda, and climate change, for instance—have no conventional military solutions. Joe Biden understands this, and his speech today was an important platform for the President to explain how America is now well positioned to engage in the fights that really matter.”

Earlier this year, Murphy along with U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), U.S. Representative David Cicilline (RI-01), and U.S. Representative Ami Bera (CA-07) proposed a significant increase to the international affairs budget for Fiscal Year 2022 to better address America’s national security challenges. Investing in 21st Century Diplomacy calls for a $12 billion increase, directing the funding toward three specific challenges: (1) competing with China; (2) preparing for the next pandemic in a post COVID-19-era; and (3) fighting climate change. In 2017, Murphy proposed doubling the State Department budget over five years to develop stronger capacities to respond to contemporary challenges in his white paper Rethinking the Battlefield.

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