WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) issued the following statement prior to the Senate's vote to bring up debate on fast-track trade legislation:

"I'm for free trade, but it needs to be fair trade too. Having spent my career representing Connecticut cities that were economically gutted by manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas, I will only support trade deals that don't immediately allow other counties to unfairly undercut American companies. The factory jobs in Connecticut held by my great grandfather, my grandfather, and thousands of other workers evaporated in part because of trade deals that made a lot of sense for big multinational companies but little sense for American workers. I won't be voting for the pending fast track bill because it doesn't make sense to take away from Congress the ability to fully debate and amend trade agreements to make sure they measure up as supporting both free and fair trade."