US Senator Chris Murphy spent the first part of his day May 6 enjoying some pancakes and the company of nearly 100 constituents and residents during a packed gathering at the Edmond Town Hall Alexandria Room. The lawmaker also took the opportunity to recognize more than a dozen local students.Opioid Emergency     FundingEconomy And AirportsThe Newtown Bee that one of the hardest things he had to do during the event was respond to a question about what is being done in Washington regarding common sense gun legislation. He said it was very hard to have to face Sandy Hook survivors Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley who both lost children in the Sandy Hook shootings, that he didn't think the nation would see any progress to that end this year.

After a quick bite to eat and introductions by First Selectman Pat Llodra, Sen Murphy opened the speaking program honoring 16 students from Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School for their academic and community achievements.

Newtown Middle School students Luke Sposato, Steven Vournazos, Robert Gaffney, Miles Dievert, Aliya Hafiz, Kylie Giroux, Sofiya Hafiz, and Lianna Perazzo each received a certificate of achievement from the US Senate, along with Newtown High School students Anthony Falbo, Megan Kelleher, Kevin Arther, Rilind Abazi, Dylan Lew, Abigail Kohler, Sarah Bender, and Kayla DiSibio.

Sen Murphy observed that in a big election year, a lot of the business in the Senate and House "grinds to a halt." But he said taking up legislation related to mental health reform needs to remain in focus and a priority to federal lawmakers.

"I've worked on mental health policy going back to my days as a state legislator and head of the Public Health Committee," Sen Murphy said. "So I know the issue well."

He said he sees an opportunity to "build a better system from the ground up," recognizing at the same time that a lot of mental health policy, programming, and funding originates at the state and local levels.

"But we've written a big bill, and it's a lot of new resources - new in-patient beds for people in crisis, and new funding for outpatient providers so we can get more [clinicians[ out there to shorten these waiting lists for kids and adults," he said. "And it provides more incentives to bring together the mental health system and the physical health system."

Sen Murphy noted that statistically, individuals with mental health issues tend to die 20 years earlier than their counterparts because they fail to take care of their physical health while trying to manage their mental health challenges.

"I think we have a chance of getting this done by the end of the year - and I'm determined to push this," he said.

Sen Murphy also made an interesting correlation between mental illness and gun violence.

"The fact is, it's a tiny, tiny portion of people with mental illness that have a predilection toward gun violence," Sen Murphy said. "We should fix the mental health system because it's broken, period. But we shouldn't let that be the end of our conversation about gun violence."

Sen Murphy then turned his attention to the opioid epidemic.

"The number of people addicted and the number of people who are overdosing is catastrophic… heartbreaking," he said. "But we also have to admit there is simply not enough treatment out there. Waiting time to get into treatment is unconscionable."

The senator said the epidemic demands and justifies an emergency federal appropriation to help rapidly open up treatment opportunities for those who need it.

Moving on, the senator reminded those gathered about the recent repeal of No Child Left Behind legislation, and touted the new federal education bill "that transfers decisionmaking from Washington back to the states and to local government - and that's a really good thing," he added to a spatter of applause.

"No Child Left Behind took all the fun out of learning, and promoted teaching to these tests - it labeled schools as nonperforming without offering resources to get them off the list," he said. "We said that should be a state responsibility. Decide which are performing and underperforming schools, leave it to state government. That conversation is happening right now in Hartford."

The next topic of conversation was transportation - particularly traffic gridlock.

"Traffic is really personal - because it's about missed baseball games, having to leave for work early or jeopardize your job - there are consequences to it," Sen Murphy said. "There are some problems in the world that are hard to fix, but we know exactly how to fix traffic."

He also noted that Connecticut will not grow economically unless the state fixes the gridlock on Interstate 95, and to an extent, on I-84.

On a comment from the audience about Bradley International Airport, Sen Murphy pivoted to spotlight both Tweed-New Haven Airport and the Sikorsky Airport straddling the Bridgeport, Stratford town lines.

"When you think about real potential for economic growth in this state, New Haven and its growing biotech community wants an airport right there - and Tweed has the potential to bring in more air traffic," he said. On a related subject, Sen Murphy reminded attendees that the new New Haven to Springfield rail line will have a Bradley Airport stop, just a short shuttle ride away from the terminals in Windsor Locks.

Following the event, Sen Murphy told

"Unfortunately this is one of the more politically charged issues," he said. "But this is what motivates me every morning when I get up. This ridiculous idea that 90 percent of American public can be for something, that only in Washington is it politically untouchable - this idea that you should get a background check if you're going to buy a weapon."

Sen Murphy said it will have to be up to voters who turn out to voice their priorities when they head to the polls this November.

"Right now, members of congress who may [stand] a little too close to the gun lobby do so in part because they don't think there is any consequence when they vote against 90 percent of their constituents," he said. "So it will be interesting to see what happens when they come back in January."

He closed on that subject praising Connecticut for passing recent legislation removing guns from the possession of anyone who is the subject of a criminal restraining order.