WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement after voting against a Republican bill that would ban doctors from performing abortions 20 weeks or more into pregnancy. Senate Democrats blocked the bill in a vote of 54 to 42. 

“The Senate floor is becoming a sideshow to the Republican presidential primary. Republicans should be working to avoid a looming government shutdown instead of forcing votes to attack women's health care which they know ahead of time are destined to fail.” Murphy said. 

Murphy continued, “We've been through government shutdowns prompted by ideological politics before, and people in Connecticut are sick of it. Instead of wasting valuable floor time with extreme ideological votes that will go nowhere, let’s sit down together and find a way to lift the job destroying budget caps and keep our government running."