Several U.S. senators, including the two from Connecticut, are urging gun dealers to crack down on gun sales that happen before background checks are completed. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy joined 11 other senators in urging dealers to stop selling firearms to people who do not first pass a background check. They said that if a... Read More about Senators urge gun dealers to complete background checks before handing over guns

U.S. Sen. Christopher S. Murphy is asking the top executives at the 50 U.S. hospitals with the highest markups for uninsured patients to institute “more reasonable” charges immediately. The Democrat from Cheshire also says that since all but one of those hospitals — or the hospital chains that own them — are for-profit... Read More about Murphy hits for-profit hospitals

Washington – The U.S. Senate late Monday voted to revive the embattled Export-Import Bank, a government corporation that helps exporters in Connecticut by financing and insuring foreign purchases of their goods. Opposed by many Republicans as “corporate welfare” because it helps giant companies like Boeing sell its jets overseas,... Read More about Senate votes to revive Export-Import bank

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A group of U.S. senators from New England say the lobster's role in the region's heritage and economy are important enough to justify a national day of celebration. The senators are introducing a resolution to designate Sept. 25, 2015, as National Lobster Day. Maine's Angus King and Susan Collins say the crustacean deserves... Read More about Murphy Among Senators Pushing For National Lobster Day

NEW BRITAIN — In the wake of a recent visit by Connecticut’s Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal to B&F Machine Co. on Edgewood Avenue to spotlight what they say is a vital need for Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Murphy has issued a report analyzing the impact of the... Read More about Murphy, Blumenthal call Ex-Im Bank vital to state’s economy

Washington – Even as he’s stopped short of embracing the deal, Sen. Chris Murphy has become an ally in President Obama’s efforts to shore up Democratic support for a proposed Iran trade pact that’s become a punching bag for Republicans. Since the pact was unveiled last week to scathing reviews by Republicans in Congress and... Read More about Murphy argues for giving Iran deal — and diplomacy — a chance

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Standing before a pre-war bridge — a pre-Civil War bridge, that is — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy called on Congress to pass a transportation funding bill before the Highway Trust Fun runs out of money July 31. "The consequence of the federal government ceasing to send transportation dollars to the states is catastrophic,"... Read More about Politicians Gather By Stamford Bridge, Call For Transportation Funding

It’s a constant conundrum for low-wage workers in Connecticut and elsewhere. A single mother who arranges for day care based on an 8 a.m. shift at a fast-food restaurant is told instead to come in at 5 p.m. Another woman who takes an hour bus ride for an early-morning shift must wait around for hours off the clock until the late-afternoon... Read More about CT lawmakers spotlight workers’ plight

Washington – Sen. Chris Murphy hopes to amend a new federal education bill so that problem schools and under-performing students could be more clearly identified and given the help they need. The education overhaul under debate in the Senate, called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, would give states more authority in determining which... Read More about Murphy hopes to amend education bill to address civil rights concerns

Connecticut Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, have called on President Obama to take executive action to close a “loophole” in federal gun control legislation. The so-called “default to proceed” rule under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act allows firearm dealers to sell a weapon to an... Read More about Dem senators call for executive action on gun control

LEBANON — Dairy producers in Connecticut, stung by a drop in the wholesale cost of milk, are able to take advantage of a new federal program to protect their operations when prices plummet. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it's important to get more farms in Connecticut to enroll in the program. Murphy visited Graywall Farms Friday in... Read More about Murphy visits Lebanon dairy farm to hear challenges, talk federal program

NEW BRITAIN — Saying he was pleased to root the Export-Import Bank debate "right here on the factory floor," Sen. Chris Murphy thanked Mario Francalangia, whose family owns B & F Machine Co., for inviting him and Sen. Richard Blumenthal to speak Friday. The federal agency, known as the Ex-Im Bank, largely offers guarantees on low-interest... Read More about On Machine Shop Floor, Senators Say Ex-Im Bank Deserves Renewal

WASHINGTON, DC (WTNH) – U.S Senator Chris Murphy is applauding the state for investing millions more in Hartford’s Promise Zone, a project he helped create. Murphy says “I organized the movement to designate North Hartford as Promise Zone because I knew it would be a game changer for the community.” The designation of a... Read More about Hartford’s Promise Zone to get $20 million

The youngest Democrats in the Senate want to stake their claim on the party’s foreign policy agenda, and they hatched their plan in the most old school of ways — over dinner together. While most senators refer to each other as “my friend,”Christopher S. Murphy, Brian Schatz andMartin Heinrichactually are close friends. Which... Read More about Senate's Young Guns Seek Foreign Policy Shift

Lauren Solinsky, a college student from Weston, started to eat a salad a few years back and quickly realized that something was wrong. Three bites in, hives began to appear around her lips and mouth. A stomachache set in as her face and body began to swell. Solinsky, 19, was having an allergic reaction to a food that is not required to have allergy... Read More about Advocates call for sesame allergen labeling

WATERBURY — Waterbury has acquired the former Risdon Manufacturing site, city officials announced during a Wednesday visit by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Murphy and Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O'Leary visited sites eyed for redevelopment in Waterbury's South End and on Freight Street. O'Leary and Murphy both emphasized that the economic health and... Read More about City acquires Risdon site

WASHINGTON — More than 90,000 people in Connecticut are struggling with severe mental illness. But nearly half of them will go untreated, slipping through the cracks of the mental health system and landing in unemployment, homelessness or even prison. The mentally ill are twice as likely to be incarcerated as to be hospitalized, according to... Read More about Murphy to unveil mental health bill

TORRINGTON >> Excavators and bulldozers were in full swing Wednesday at the Nidec site on Franklin Drive as city officials showed the state’s two U.S. senators around on the property that sits just across the river from Fuessenich Park. Mayor Elinor Carbone is working with the company to help clean up and revive the brownfields site... Read More about In Torrington, Blumenthal, Murphy back efforts to revive old Nidec site

The kid’s doing all right. First-term U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy chalked up perhaps his biggest legislative accomplishment to date recently when the “Buy American” amendment he crafted, part of the National Defense Authorization Act, was approved in the Senate. According to a Connecticut Mirror report, Murphy’s measure requires... Read More about ‘Buy American’

NORWALK — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy was joined by environmental and business leaders at Calf Pasture Beach on Tuesday afternoon to push for a "guaranteed stream of money" to further clean Long Island Sound. "I'm here today to talk about the importance of passing the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act this summer," Murphy said. "The Long Island... Read More about Murphy, environmental and business leaders press for Sound Stewardship Act