Washington – Sen. Chris Murphy said he’s been named to five Senate Appropriations Committee panels.

He will sit on appropriations subcommittees with authority over the budgets of the Departments of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the State Department, the Commerce and Justice departments, military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs; and a panel that has jurisdiction over Congress’s operating budget.

“I fought for a seat on the Appropriations Committee so I could bring more money back to Connecticut to build roads, create jobs, and help the middle class,” Murphy said.

He said his new appropriations jobs " will put me in a position to fight for projects like the improvement and expansion of Metro-North, the modernization of our veterans facilities, and increasing the availability of affordable housing.”

“As the first Senator from Connecticut to serve on the Appropriations Committee in a generation, I'm excited to get to work and make sure that Connecticut taxpayers see their hard-earned money returned to our state,” Murphy said.

Murphy will also be at the center of expected budget fights between Democrats and Republicans on how federal dollars are spent, and whether and how across-the-board cuts known as sequestration are eliminated.