WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which will face a procedural vote this morning in the U.S. Senate:

“This budget deal will spare our country from another senseless government shutdown and from even more automatic budget cuts scheduled to take effect in January. It also begins to roll back those damaging sequestration cuts over the next two years. That is welcome news in Connecticut, where tens of thousands of defense jobs hang in the balance, and countless other education, medical research, and infrastructure investments are threatened. This budget isn’t perfect, and it’s not the bill I would write—it doesn’t include a much-needed extension of unemployment insurance, reduces some retirement benefits for future veterans and federal employees, and doesn't include broader changes to tax policy and entitlement programs necessary to our long-term economic health—but that’s the nature of compromise. I’ll continue to fight for these important priorities in the Senate.”