Sen. Chris Murphy at New Canaan League of Women Voters’ Luncheon [VIDEO]

The nation’s youngest senator—a fourth-generation Connecticut native on both sides of his family—on Friday told a room full of New Canaanites that the nation’s biggest challenge is its lack of investment in itself. The United States is at an historic low when it comes to government investment as a percentage of gross domestic product, U.S. Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said during an annual luncheon organized by the League of Women Voters of New Canaan. “We are spending less than 3 percent of our GDP on non-defense discretionary spending—that’s basically education, transportation and science,” Murphy told more than 50 attendees gathered in the ballroom at the Country Club of New Canaan. “And if you want to know what the worry is that keeps me up at night, it’s that we are going to fail to recognize the true greatness of this country which has been this wonderful marriage between public sector investment and private sector ingenuity. Put money into your schools and your roads and your bridges and into science, and the private sector will do awesome things with those investments—create jobs, make new innovations, lead the world.