President Obama is staying the course, saying the U.S. will still accept Syrian refugees seeking shelter.
He also defended his strategy against ISIS amid criticism the U.S. isn't doing enough.
Connecticut’s junior senator, Chris Murphy, who is also on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, weighed in after the president’s news conference from the G20 Conference in Turkey Monday.
"This is a pivotal moment in the fight against ISIS and we now need all of our European allies and our Arab partners in the Middle East to get on the same page here,” said Sen. Murphy.
Murphy said the focus now needs to be on building a bigger international coalition for help in the air and on the ground.
President Obama also rejected critics who believe he's hasn't taken a hard enough stance on ISIS and reiterated his position: he does not want U.S. boots on the ground in Syria.
"It is not just my view but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers that that would be a mistake,” said the president.
Sen. Murphy said he agrees.
"I think it's really important for us to remember why ISIL exists in the first place," said Murphy. "They were organized to defeat the U.S. occupation of Iraq….to repeat that mistake by putting in another 50 thousand to 100 thousand troops would effectively guarantee the long term existence of an extremist movement."
Murphy believes we can only defeat ISIS if residents in the affected countries continue to push for more moderate governments in power.
He also gave his take on the Syrian refugee crisis.
"The United States would frankly be violating the best traditions about who we are to completely shut our borders to people fleeing prosecution,” said Murphy, "but it does reinforce why we have to make sure that our background check system for anyone coming into the united states is absolutely air tight."
Murphy said Paris proves ISIS has the capability to plan large-scale lethal attacks.