Chris Murphy

“As lawmakers, our job is to listen to our constituents. If our phones are ringing off the hook with people demanding to know where we stand on an issue, we pay attention.”

“America's strength in the past has been our ability to bring family members to join other family members in the United States and to look at skills but not have it be the only determination of how you get here.”

“The most popular health care plan in the country is Medicare. It delivers the best care at the lowest cost - it's better than any other part of our health care system. But most people can only get it when they're over 65. I don't think you should have to wait that long.”

“I think when you have so many people working for American-based think tanks and American-based defense companies, there is always going to be a bent towards proposing American-led solutions for foreign problems. People get paid big money in Washington to come up with ways that America can fix problems overseas, and they are not always right.”

“Rarely do political contributions lead to direct quid pro quo transactions - donations for votes - and those that cross this line normally get caught.”

“Helping people get the skills they need to set them up for a rewarding career helps keep people in Connecticut, and it ensures that we have a workforce that's ready to fill the thousands of manufacturing jobs of the future.”

“Too many families know what it's like to have to choose between providing care for a family member and keeping their job.”

“There's zero evidence, empirical or anecdotal, that more guns leads to less gun crime.”

“I can't stand the idea of a veteran risking her or his life for this country, suffering the wounds of battle, and then being kicked to the curb as a result of those wounds. But that is exactly what has happened to tens of thousands of men & women who have fought and bled for our country.”

“Terrorist groups are working and communicating across E.U. borders - our efforts to track those groups must do so as well.”

“Anytime somebody loses a presidential election, there are lots of explanations.”

“People should remember that in the 2000s, the gun lobby got a lot passed: they got riders added to appropriations bills. They got immunity for the gun industry. They successfully managed the expiration of the assault weapons ban.”

“I think most of the Washington foreign policy establishment exists in a fantasy world when it comes to Syria. They fundamentally don't understand that Russia and Iran, from the beginning, had much more at stake in Syria than the United States did. Russia and Iran were going to do everything possible in order to keep Bashar al-Assad in power.”

“The American people didn't send us to Congress to post our sympathies on social media. You can do that without going through the trouble of getting elected to Congress. This job is about setting rules that better protect us and our children.”

“One of my chief criticisms of U.S. international policy is that Congress has largely abdicated its foreign policy-making responsibilities to the executive branch.”

“There is no doubt Assad deserves every missile we fire at him, but there's one big problem with air strikes - there is absolutely no proof it has any deterrent effect on Assad. To the contrary, history tells us these strikes will most likely quicken the pace of his assault on his own people.”

“I think Donald Trump believes in putting a wall around America and hoping everything turns out OK.”

“Background checks applied universally and nationally would take millions of illegal guns off the streets of our cities.”

“I've never met a Democrat in Congress who wants open borders or who doesn't believe in enforcing immigration laws.”

“The Mental Health Reform Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2016. It was one of my proudest moments in Congress.”