Press releases
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240 rows where party = "Republican", state = "NJ" and year = 2019 sorted by date descending
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| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406292 | <span class ="kicker">Holmdel-Colts Neck TapInto News Article</span>'Injured Marine First in NJ to Receive New Smart Home From Tunnel To Towers Foundation' | 2019-12-30 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) joined representatives from the Stephen Siller Tunnelto Towers Foundation, local elected officials, members of law enforcement and local veterans, in honoring United States Marine Corporal Scott Nokes. Nokes was chosen by Tunnelto Towers Foundation to be a recipient of a brand new smart home, mortgage free. Scott A. Nokes, is a hero to so many. Nokeshas twice saved someone's life. As a volunteer firefighter, he once rescued a boy from a fire. In a second incidence, Nokessaved a fellow student while attending a ROTC camp. As a Corporal and rifleman in the Marines, assigned to 1/8 Charlie Company, Nokes was twice deployed to Afghanistan. While on his second deployment, Scott developed dysentery, which led to unresolved GI issues, sepsis and the eventual amputation of both of his legs below the knee. Nokes also suffered theloss of his vision. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation chose to honor and to support Nokes and this new chapter in his life with a custom-designedsmart home. These homes enableseverely injured heroes live more comfortable and independent lives. Nokes just in time for the Christmas holidayreceived the keys from the foundation to a new smart home which was built specifically for him and his needs as a blind double amputee resulting from an infection he received during hisservice to the U.S. while in Afghanistan. The 2,800 square foot home is located in Howell, NJ. It hasthree bedrooms,three bathrooms, andsmart amenities such asa fully automatic toilet that has a seat that lifts as someone approaches it. Theseat is also heated, hasauto flushing and cleaning features. The kitchen is equipped for easier cooking when in a wheelchair and has various built in smart technology conveniences. Both the front door and the door to the garage are automatic. The lighting in each room is designed to shine a different color as Nokes can partially see different color hues. It took six months and 700 people to complete the project. In 2003, Smith authored theVeterans… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406293 | <span class ="kicker">Coast Star Article:'Feds to target Lyme disease with $150M legislation'</span>'Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive effort hailed in NJ by co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Smith' | 2019-12-30 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY SANNE YOUNG THE COAST STAR After decades of effort, a new national strategy for fighting Lyme disease finally has been signed into law. After 21 years, I'm ecstatic. We finally got it, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, who joined fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, in sponsoring the measure to fight tick-borne diseases. Lawmakers, instead of letting the bill go through the usual committee process, did a workaround, Rep. Smith said. The bill was attached to a massive end-of-year spending package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on Friday, Dec. 20. Mr. Smith, who represents New Jersey's Fourth Congressional District, said the legislation authorizes $150 million in federal funding over five years for the federal Centers of Excellence to create a new whole-of-government national strategy to combat Lyme, as well as for local Lyme initiatives, he said. The new law will open doors to innovative therapies, treatments, better diagnosis and more accurate information for doctors and their patients with Lyme. New Jersey is a hot spot for the disease, the second highest state in the nation in thenumber of cases reported, 40,000 in 2018, said Wall Township resident Patricia V. Smith [no relation to the congressman], president of the National Lyme Disease Association. We're certainly thrilled to see more distribution of funds for tick-borne diseases and for providing development of a national strategy, said Ms. Smith, who first began a campaign for Lyme awareness in the 1980s when a number of Wall school teachers and students contracted the disease. The legislation, formerly the TICK Act, now is named for Sen. Kay Hagan [D-NC] who died in October of encephalitis, caused by the tick-borne Powassan virus. Rep. Smith said the new national strategy will be key. Now, you will have every agency working on the same page to combat the explosion of this terrible disease, he said, from the federal Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406291 | Bipartisan Task Force Condemns Anti-Semitic Attack in Monsey, NY | 2019-12-29 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Representatives Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Kay Granger (R-TX), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Randy Weber (R-TX), Marc Veasey (D-TX), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), the Co-Chairs of the House of Representatives Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, condemn last night's stabbing in Monsey, NY, during a Hanukkah celebration: The House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism strongly condemns last night's anti-Semitic attack in a rabbi's home in Monsey, NY. This comes on the heels of numerous attacks against Jews in Brooklyn and Manhattan and the shooting at a kosher deli in Jersey City earlier this month. We are keeping the victims of last night's attack and their families in our prayers. As the Jewish community concludes the holiday of Hanukkah this week, it is more important than ever that all Jews are able to safely celebrate their faith. The trend of increasing Anti-Semitic violence and incidents in recent years cannot continue. In the coming weeks, the Task Force will reach out to law enforcement officials, community organizations, and experts in combating hate crimes to seek answers for the best ways to fight this scourge. The Task Force stands united with the Jewish community and is committed to ending these hateful crimes once and for all. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406296 | <span class ="kicker">Tri-Town news article on new Smith autism law</span>'Congressmans Autism CARES Act of 2019 signed into law' | 2019-12-28 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Major autism legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to authorize $1.8 billion over five years to help children and adults with autism by funding research, early detection and treatment has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Smith said the comprehensive new law, cosponsored by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) will fund critical biomedical autism research as well as the development of best practices to enhance the lives of persons with autism. We need answers now and treatment options and interventions that work. According to a press release, the Autism CARES Act of 2019: Authorizes $1.8 billion, including annual funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $296 million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at $23.1 million, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at $50 million. The act also reauthorizes and expands the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC); Adds new members of IACC from the separtments of labor, justice, veterans affairs and Housing and Urban Development; Uncreases from two to three IACC members who are self-advocates, parents or legal guardians and advocacy/service organizations; Empowers the Health and Human Services secretary to prioritize grants to rural and underserved areas and Requires that not later than two years after enactment, a comprehensive report on the demographic factors associated with the health and well-being of individuals with ASD, recommendations on establishing best practices to ensure interdisciplinary coordination, improvements for health outcomes, community based behavioral support and interventions, nutrition and recreational and social activities, personal safety and more. Smith said Autism CARES expands government programs to include older persons with autism who were, and are, often misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed and overlooked. According to Drexel University's A.J. Drexel Autism Center, about 70,700 to 111,600 children age out into adulthood each year creating challenges… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406286 | <span class ="kicker"></span>Smith, Local Officials, Vets & Law Enforcement Honor Marine Vet Presented w Keys to Smart Home | 2019-12-23 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Smith, Local Officials, Vets & Law Enforcement Honor Marine Vet Presented w Keys to Smart Home' f t # e HOWELL. NJ , Dec 23, 2019 HOWELL, NJ -- Congressman Chris Smith today joined representatives from the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation, local elected officials, members of law enforcement and local veterans in honoring United States Marine Corporal Scott Nokes.Nokes received the keys from the foundation to a new smart home which was built specifically for him and his needs as a blind double amputee resulting from his service in Afghanistan. In 2003, Smith authored the Veterans Benefit Act (PL 108-183) that increased government funding to $50,000 for Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) programs for severely disabled service members.The SAH government program helps veterans like Cpl. Nokes live independently but doesn't cover the entire cost of home ownership. That's where the Tunnels to Towers Foundations stepped in. Through a strong and committed network of donors and corporate partners, the Tunnels to Towers Foundation conveyed the home to Cpl. Nokes free of mortgage. No one deserves this more than Corporal Nokes, Smith said. He is a courageous marine with an indomitable spirit. PICTURED: Rep. Chris Smith addresses a crowd of more than 200 people who turned out to honor former Marine Clp. Scott Nokes as he was presented with keys to his new home that was built to accommodate his service injuries. ### f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406287 | Statement of Rep. Smith on Liberias Worsening Political Situation | 2019-12-23 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Africa and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, issued the following statement of concern regarding worsening political conditions in Liberia: Human rights advocates are increasingly alarmed by the deterioration of civil and political rights and the corruption that is occurring in Liberia under President George Weah. I am especially concerned by allegations surrounding Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee and the thuggish behavior of the Congress for Democratic ChangeSecurity Force he heads. Credible allegations of serious human and civil rights violationsincluding attempted murder,rape, unlawful arrest, detentionand torturehave been attributed to Mayor Koijee by the International Justice Group,a US-based non-government organization. Especially in light of our historic ties to Liberia, the United States Congress will be closely monitoring the mass public demonstration that is scheduled to occur on December 30 in Monrovia, and I call upon the government of Liberia to respect the free speech and assembly rights of Liberian citizens. Anyone who suppresses these fundamental rights, or engages in ongoing corrupt acts, may very well become subject to targeted Global Magnitsky sanctions. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406285 | Rep. Smith Warns on Religious Freedom Violations | 2019-12-20 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) today released the following statement in response to the US State Department's designation of the world's worst violators of religious freedom: I welcome the State Department's designation of Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), given their systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom. Congress has spoken out in particular with respect to Xi Jinping's all-out effort to Sinicize all religion in China, advancing legislation to protect Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and other believers. I further hope that the Executive Office for Immigration Review pays special attention to the designation of Eritrea as a CPC, and withholds removal of those fleeing persecution from that country. Additionally, I welcome the inclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Nigeria and Sudan on the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom, joining prior designees Comoros, Russia and Uzbekistan. However, the jury is still out as to whether Sudan deserves its upgrade from CPC status. We will pay particular attention to Nigeria and the deteriorating situation under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in the year ahead. President Buhari must address the murderous attacks conducted by Fulani extremists on Christians in the Middle Belt and the oppression of Shia Muslims in Kaduna State.I also call upon the State Department to monitor the actions of Miyetti Allah with regard to its complicity in attacks by Fulani extremists. Finally, I question the absence of India and Turkey on the Special Watch List. India's government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become especially intolerant toward religious minorities, notwithstanding the promise of India's secular constitution which guaranties equality of all its citizens, regardless of their faith tradition. Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to impose unjustifiable… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406284 | <span class ="kicker">Married couples see SALT relief in 2019; added tax relief for 1st responders & teachers</span>Smith Votes to Remove SALT Cap for 20 & 21 | 2019-12-19 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Legislation to eliminate the State and Local Tax deduction (SALT) cap for tax year 2020 and 2021 was passed today by the House of Representatives. The bill also raises the cap for married joint filers for 2019. I have cosponsored legislation to get rid of the arbitrary, unfair SALT caps and the unacceptable added burden on NJ taxpayers, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has long opposed SALT caps and who voted for today's bill to eliminate them. Smith, who voted in 2017 against the legislation that created the SALT cap, added, Compared to what we get back, NJ already pays more than our fair share to the federal government.I am pleased to vote for the bill today and I will continue to fight to abolish this unjust tax on residents in my district and across the state. The 2017 tax law placed an across-the-board cap on SALT deductions of $10,000 per return, meaning even joint (married) filers are only able to deduct the same amount as a single filer. Today's bill, HR 5377, will remove this SALT marriage penalty for tax year 2019, and will completely eliminate the cap for tax years 2020 and 2021 so filers can deduct all of their state and local taxes. According to 2016 IRS data, before the 2017 tax law, 42 percent of New Jersey tax filers claimed the SALT deductiontying New Jersey and Connecticut as the states with the second most SALT deduction claimants after Maryland's 46 percent. Additionally, this bill doubles the existing teacher tax credit from $250 to $500 for educators spending their own money on classroom supplies, and creates a new $500 deduction for first responders spending their own money on professional training and uniforms. These public servants give of themselves for the betterment of our communities, and allowing them to deduct these expenses is the least we can do, Smith said. Smith represents large sections of Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer counties. Each county's board of chosen freeholders passed resolutions opposing the 2017 elimination of SALT deductionsin effect sup… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406282 | <span class ="kicker"></span>On Impeachment | 2019-12-18 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | On Impeachment f t # e Washington, Dec 18, 2019 Rep. Chris Smith released the following statement on his votes against the impeachment of President Trump today in the House of Representatives: The U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguousimpeachment of any president is permitted only for treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. Undoing the will of the people expressed in a free and fair election with the proposed articles of impeachment, totally fails to meet the legal standard prescribed by the U. S. Constitution. Despite hearings and a process that were egregiously flawed and unfair, there is still no direct evidence whatsoever of any crime. Disagreement with or intense dislike for this or any other president of the United States is not nownor should it ever begrounds for impeachment. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406278 | Chris Smiths TICK Act and End Neglected Diseases Act to become law | 2019-12-17 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Two major health bills authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) were attached to an end-of-year, must-pass spending package today and will become law by the end of the week. The first billthe TICK Actcreates a new whole-of-government national strategy to combat Lyme and other tick borne diseases. It authorizes $150 million in federal funding for Centers of Excellence and important Lyme initiatives at the local level. It's taken 21 yearsand over a dozen bills I've introduced in Congress beginning with the Lyme Disease Initiative Act of 1998 to get here. Smith said.This marks a major victory for hundreds of thousandsespecially and including childrenwho suffer from this horrific disease. Smith introduced the TICK Act earlier this year joined by Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN) in the House and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tina Smith (R-MN) in the Senate.As included in the end-of-year bill, the legislation is now named for former Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) who tragically passed away from a tick-borne disease in October. The national strategy provision coupled with $150 million for research, prevention and treatment programs will enable additional federal agencies to step up and coordinated their efforts in the fight against Lyme, said Smith, the co-chair of the House Lyme Disease Caucus. The new law will open doors to innovative therapies, treatments, better diagnosis and more accurate information for doctors, and their patients with Lyme. With a whole-of-government approach, all patients, including those suffering with chronic Lyme will get more answers and hopefully relief from this debilitating disease. According to the Department of Health and Human Services 2018 Report to Congress, there are approximately 300,000 new cases of tick borne disease each yearwith an estimated 40,000 new cases annually in New Jersey alone. Smith's second bill to become law this week, the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act (HR 3460), supports the treatment, control, and elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406281 | <span class ="kicker"></span>Rep. Chris Smiths End Neglected Diseases Act to Become Law | 2019-12-17 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Two major health bills authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) were attached to an end-of-year, must-pass spending package Tuesday and will become law by the end of the week. Smith's first bill to become law this week, the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act (HR 3460), supports the treatment, control, and elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). It ensures that that United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) programs effectively integrate NTD treatment, control and elimination efforts with other development issues, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, water and sanitation and education. More than 10 million Americans living in extreme povertyand 1.4 billion people worldwideare currently infected with at least one of these awful, but preventable diseases which blind, disable, disfigure and sometime kill victims Smith said. My bill breaks down silos and integrates critical therapies USAID is already doing to help those suffering from NTDs such as West Nile Virus, Zika, dengue or severe dengue fever, leprosy, scabies and soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) (roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm). Smith, a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Ranking Member of its Global Human Rights Subcommittee, navigated the bill through debate on Dec. 3 and onto House passage. PICTURED: Rep. Chris Smith on the House floor Dec. 3, 2019 managing debate of the bill, which included in the 2020 appropriations bill passed in the House Dec. 17 and expected to be passed into law. The bill directs the US Government to advocate for increased efforts to address NTDs among international institutions such as the United Nations, World Health Organization and World Bank, said Smith, who noted the benefits of the deworming, particularly with children. The benefits of deworming are immediate and enduring, Smith said. Children whose intestinal systems are infested with worms fail to get proper nutrition, and thus suffer from stunting and developmental issues. They are also more susceptible to… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406276 | <span class ="kicker">Smith bill would recognize American & Allied GIs</span>Rep. Smith Introduces Bill to Mark 75th Anniversary of World War IIs Pivotal Battle of the Bulge | 2019-12-16 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Today, on the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a bipartisan resolution, H.J.Res. 81, to commend the veterans who fought in one of the most pivotal battles in World War II, which lasted from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945. The Battle of the Bulge was a critical turning point in the war, and today we honor the men and women who served in the fight and endured or succumbed in this horrific attack, said Smith, former chairman of the House Veteran's Committee and author of 14 laws to help veterans. It was a terrible battle, in bitter cold against superior numbers, with 19,000 Americans killed, 45,000 wounded and 23,000 captured or missing. The Battle of the Bulge, which took place in Belgium and Luxembourg, was a surprise attack on the Allied troops and the Germans last major offensive against the Allied forces. Some 600,000 American troops, joined by 55,000 British, Belgian, Canadian and other Allied forces, fought a protracted bloody battle against Germany. We must never forget those Americans who left their schools, farms, and factoriesto fight and sometime die to make the world a safer place for democracy and freedom. My dad was a combat veteran in World War II, and sometimes I think of him leaving his home in New Jersey as a young man and heading out overseas to fight terrible battles to defend democracy and freedom for themselves and future generations. They're not called the Greatest Generation' for nothing, said Smith. Smith is also the author of similar legislation introduced on August 5, 1999. Signed into law (PL 106-142) on Dec 7, 1999, H.J.Res.65commended the World War II veterans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. In the 107th Congress he introduced H.R. 5055 to authorize the placement of a memorial honoring the World War II veterans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Arlington National Cemetery. This bill was included in section 204 of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002 (38 USC 2409) and was signed into l… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406274 | <span class ="kicker">Rep. Smith:</span>Zero tolerance for anti-Semitic and police hatred | 2019-12-13 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) Our hearts break for the four victimsincluding brave Jersey City Det. Joseph Sealsmurdered in Jersey City, and their families in yet another act of vicious anti-Semitic and police hatred. Early evidence in the investigation suggests that the perpetrators of this appalling crime had at least sympathy for the hate group Black Hebrew Israelitesand is yet another wake-up call like the anti-Semitic slaughter in Pittsburgh that demands we redouble efforts to combat anti-Semitism. Even though Jewish people comprise approximately 2 percent of the U.S. population, the disproportionate number of hate crimes against Jews is absolutely appalling. According to the 2018 FBI Hate Crimes Report, of all hate crimes motivated by religious bias, 57.8 percent were anti-Jewish. We must be far more robust in respecting and supporting law enforcement. They are the line of demarcationthe wallthat separates our communities and families from criminal activity, all forms of violence and even anarchy. Each of us must demand zero-tolerance for anti-Semitic and police hatred. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406273 | <span class ="kicker">Helps Service Members Transition to Civilian Life</span>Smith Veterans Amendment Approved in National Defense Authorization Act | 2019-12-11 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Today Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) voted forand the House passedthe 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; S. 1790) which authorizes $738 billion for defense programs to continue to rebuild readiness, advance modernization, develop emerging technologies, enhance missile defense and confront our adversaries.The defense package also assures a 3.1 percent pay raise for our troopsthe highest pay hike for members of the Armed Services in a decade. Smith Veterans Amendment Adopted Included in the bipartisan conference package, which passed in 377-to 48 vote, is an amendment authored by Smith to modernize the Department of Defense (DoD) Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and help more than 20,000 of service members each year who transition to veteran status and return to civilian life. I have seen how vital TAP is in preparing all eligible members of the armed forces for transition to civilian life, Smith, said. Yet, this program designed to help more than 20,000 transitioning to veteran/civilian life has proven a bit out dated and limited because of the multiple websites used to shared needed information. My amendment aims to provide servicemembers with a single-source, comprehensive, online application accessible through smart technology and a mobile app to assist vets with their transition and needs after separation. The former chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee said under the current mandatory TAP program, servicemembers undergo four hours of pre-separation counseling, five days of classroom-based instruction, and an optional two-day Transition Goals, Plans, Success program. It's all good and helpfulbut abundantinformation provided in multiple sessions that can become an organizational challenge especially for servicemembers who are relocating and starting new lives, Smith said. Additionally, there is currently no avenue for TAP officials to follow servicemembers' progress in completing their TAP requirements and ensure that all support systems are being used.My … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406268 | <span class ="kicker">Record number of applicants fuels an increase in awards</span>Rep. Chris Smith Announces Winners of 2019 Congressional App Challenge | 2019-12-10 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Today, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) announced the winners of this year's New Jersey Fourth Congressional District Congressional App Challenge, part of a nationwide competition for middle and high school students to showcase their software app-developing skills and teamwork. I am pleased to congratulate Communications High School students Vaughn Battista of Tinton Falls, Michael Cielecki of Spring Lake Heights, Jack Hester of Oceanport and Colin Martin of Red Bank for their first place-winning app, Commuitas,' said Rep. Smith. They developed a unique task-sharing' mobile application which allows users to barter their skills and abilities with other users to share tasks in exchange for a virtual points system. The judges thought it was very unique and well devised. Timed to coincide with Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), December 9-15, 2019, Smith said this year's contest drew a record number of entries from Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer Counties. PICTURED: Colin Martin, teacher Laura Gesin, Jack Hester and Michael Cielecki of Communications High (missing is Vaughn Battista). Sixty-one students participated in teams and as individuals to design 20 apps. The ideas and the execution of their apps was just phenomenal.Given the talent and good competition, we expanded the number of winning apps this year from two to three, he added, and this year, Communications High School, a Monmouth County Vocational School District career academy, took all three top spots. Previously, only the top finisher and the runner up were acknowledged. The second-place app is Spike's Underwater Adventure, designed by students Bella Matuch of Spring Lake, Desiree Negrin of Fair Haven and Jill Tracy of Belmar, and the third-place finisher is GreenScreen, designed by students Nicolas Chunn of Tinton Falls, Matthew Emery of Howell and Neil Estrada of Red Bank. Rep. Smith recognized the panel of expert judges who scored the apps saying, I want to thank the highly specialized judges for their contribution to this competitio… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406267 | <span class ="kicker">Rep. Smith Guest on Fox News Pushing for Sami's Law</span>Smith Speaks on 'Sami's Law,' Rideshare Safety | 2019-12-09 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Smith Guest on Fox News Pushing for Sami's LawSmith Speaks on 'Sami's Law,' Rideshare Safety 'Uber reports more than 3,000 claims of sexual assault by drivers in 2018' f t # e NEW YORK, NY , Dec 9, 2019 Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined Fox News Channel anchor Ed Henry, host of America's News HQ, on set in New York regarding bipartisan legislation named in honor of Samantha Sami Josephsona senior at the University of South Carolina who was kidnapped and brutally murdered earlier this year by a predator pretending to be her Uber driver. Sami's Law, which would establish needed protections for ride-share customers across the country, is authored by Smith (NJ-04) with lead Democratic cosponsor, Rep. Tom Suozzi (NY-03) in the House, HR 4686.In the Senate prime sponsor Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced a companion bill as S. 1871. Sami's Law will require enhanced vehicle identification procedures to create a safer environment for ride-share drivers and customers and to make it harder for those with ill intent from impersonating drivers. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Smith said the idea for the legislation came directly from Sami's greiving parentsSeymour and Marci Josephsonwho began advocating for federal and state legislation to better ensure that no one else loses their life or gets assaulted by a rideshare driver or a predator who pretends to be one. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406259 | Rep. Smith Welcomes Release of NJ Man Held Hostage by Iranian Govt | 2019-12-07 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today enthusiastically welcomed today's release of Xiyue Wang, a Princeton, NJ graduate student who was taken hostage by the Iranian government while working on an Iranian government-approved research project. In April of 2018, I met Hua Qu, wife of Princeton University grad student Xiyue Wangwho until this week was unjustly incarcerated in Iran's infamous Evin prison, said Smith. Anyone who heard her appeal for her husband's releaseand witnessed her remarkable love for her husbandcould remain silent. She has been a tenacious and effective advocate for Xiyue, Smith said. In a May 11, 2018 letter to President Trump that I conveyed to the White House, Hua Qu said: without your help, Mr. President, I am afraid that nothing will happenOnly you can bring him homemake our family whole again Please, Mr. President, you are our hope and we are counting on you.' Against serious odds, President Trumpand his teamsecured Xiyue's freedom, Smith said. Amidst the joy of this news, we must continue to press hard for the release of the other hostages in Iran including falsely imprisoned father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi, Smith said. Earlier this week I met a group of relatives including Babak Namazi who is pushing for the release of his dad and brother. PICTURED ABOVE: Rep. Smith meets with Hua Qu in Smith's Hamilton office. The Congressman spoke with Hua today to discuss the news of her husband's release. Smith met with Wang's wife at his Hamilton office. Smith spoke at a Princeton University rally for Wang on May 11, 2018, and later meetings in Washington DC. At a congressional hearing on May 23, 2019, Smith directly asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help secure Wang's release. Click here or on CSPAN video link above. He also sent Pompeo a letter in May 2018. Smith thanked all who helped secure Wang's release, including President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, Brian Hook and Robert O'Brien at the State Dept., the Swiss government and others who advocated tirelessly on Wang'… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406261 | <span class ="kicker">Fox News Channel: 'Iran releases American student in prisoner swap; Rep. Chris Smith weighs in.'</span>'Iranian prisoner exchange frees American student' | 2019-12-07 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) discussed the return of Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang today after Wang's imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government. Smith was on the set of Fox News Channel in New York with anchor Ed Henry to discuss Wang's release. Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, worked with Wang's wife, Hua Qu, pressed the State Department to keep working to bring Wang home. Smith had appealed directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help in Wang's case. Smith met with Wang's wife at his Hamilton office. Smith also spoke at a Princeton University rally for Wang in May 11, 2018, and later held meetings in Washington DC on Wang's case. At a congressional hearing on May 23, 2019, Smith directly asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help secure Wang's release. Click here or on CSPAN video link above. He also sent Pompeo a letter in May 2018. Smith thanked all who helped secure Wang's release, including President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, Brian Hook and Robert O'Brien at the State Dept., the Swiss government and others who advocated tirelessly on Wang' s behalf. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Fox News reported that Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, accompanied the Iranian scientist to Switzerland to make the exchange and will return with Wang, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The swap took place in Zurich and Hook and Wang are now en route to Landstuhl in Germany where Wang will be examined by doctors, the official said. Hook is expected to return to the U.S. from Germany alone, as Wang is expected to be evaluated for several days. In his opening remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday night, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien announced that Wang will be coming home from a U.S. military hospital in Germany in the next day or two. https://www.foxnews.com/world/american-graduate-held-in-iran-on-spy-charges-since-2016-to-be-released ht… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406263 | <span class ="kicker">Smith Interview on News12NJ</span>'Princeton scholar held in Iranian prison released in prisoner swap' | 2019-12-07 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Dec 07, 2019 5:28 PM EST A Princeton University graduate student held in an Iranian prison for more than three years was released after a prisoner swap Saturday. Xiyue Wang is a Chinese-born naturalized American citizen and doctoral student of history at Princeton. He was arrested and convicted of espionage in 2016 while doing research in Iran for his Ph.D. Rep. Chris Smith says Wang had all the proper clearances to travel and he was detained in Tehran unjustly. The swap took place in Surich, Switzerland. It involved Wang and Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani, who was imprisoned in the U.S. for violating sanctions. Click here to watch News12 New Jersey's segment on a May 2018 rally for Xiyue Wang. Sen. Cory Booker says this was a big win for the state and the country. He says, "This is the outcome that New Jerseyans and those around the globe who followed this unjust and politically motivated ordeal had hoped forI'm grateful for the efforts of those who worked tirelessly and quietly behind the scenes to help bring Xiyue Wang home." In a statement, Princeton University President Chris Eisgruber writes, "The entire Princeton University community is overjoyed that Xiyue Wang can finally return home to his wife and young son, and we look forward to welcoming him back to campus...We are grateful to everyone, at Princeton and beyond, who has supported Xiyue and his family throughout his unjust imprisonment, and for all the efforts that have led to his release. Wang's wife, Hua Qu, released a statement saying, Our family is complete once again. Wang's son was 3 years old when he went to Iran. President Donald Trump thanked Iran for the fair negotiation. Wang was flown to Germany to be evaluated by doctors. Western detainees from the U.S. and elsewhere remain held by Tehran. AP Wire Services were used in this report. This article was posted at: http://newjersey.news12.com/story/41421261/princeton-scholar-held-in-iranian-prison-released-in-prisoner-swap | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406264 | <span class ="kicker">NJ.com story on Princeton Student's release</span>'How the U.S. was able to win Princeton University students freedom from Iran' | 2019-12-07 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON The release ofPrinceton University doctoral studentXiyue Wang after more than three years of captivity in Iran was the product of months of negotiations facilitated by the Swiss government, a senior administration official said Saturday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he hoped the release would lead to other U.S captives being freed from Iran. Wang was released Saturday in exchange forIranian scientist Massoud Soleimani, who had been arrested by U.S. authorities on charges that he violated sanctions against Tehran. Those charges were dropped. We're very happy to have our hostage back," President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday, according to pool reports. "The whole Princeton University community is very thrilled. And there was a one-on-one hostage swap. I think it's a great thing for Iran," he said. "It might have been a precursor to what could be done. The swap ended an ordeal that lastedmore than three yearsafter Wang, who had traveled to Iran to conduct academic research, instead was arrested and convicted as a spy. He is now in Germany, where he will undergo a medical examination before returning to the U.S., the official said. Wang's wife, Hua Qu of Princeton, had fought for years for her husband's release. They have a son, Shaofan, who has lived more than half his life without his father. Our family is complete once again," Qu said on Saturday. "Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it's hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen. Trump in an earlier statement thanked the Swiss government for helping to achieve Wang's release. The highest priority of the United States is the safety and well-being of its citizens, Trump said. Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas. Later,he tweeted: Thank you… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406248 | <span class ="kicker">Smith leads debate on bill aimed at Chinese Gov't abuse of Muslims</span>Debate on the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 | 2019-12-03 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)during debate in the U.S. House of Representativeson the Uyghur Human RightsPolicy Act of 2019December 3, 2019 Special thanks to the 128 bipartisan cosponsors of my bill, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, HR 649comprehensive human rights legislation I introduced earlier this year with lead Democratic cosponsor Tom Suozzi of New York to address the massive crimes against humanity committed by the Chinese government against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. HR 649, which is nearly identical to legislation, HR 7123, I introduced in the previous congress, would require the Administration to categorize and report on the human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Communist government, take specific steps to sanction Chinese officials for these abuses, and stop to the greatest extent possible the Chinese government's efforts to create a high-tech police and surveillance state. Despite an endorsement of our bill twelve months ago by the Washington Post, which said: This has become one of the world's most urgent human rights crises. Congress should pass the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, the Senate version is now before us today and I encourage my colleagues and the cosponsors of HR 649 to vote for it. At a 2018 congressional hearing Mihrigul Tursun recounted her ordeal with torture, sexual abuse and detention in one of China's mass internment camps in Xinjiang. She broke down weeping telling us that she pleaded with God to end her life.Her Chinese jailers restrained her to a table increased the electrical currents coursing through her body and mocked her belief in God. She was tortured simply for being an ethnic Uyghur and a Muslim in China. There are millions of stories like this waiting to be told about the crimes against humanity being committed by the Chinese government against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslims. Given that this year is the 30th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Mass… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406245 | <span class ="kicker">NJ.com/Star Ledger Article</span>Trump signs Hong Kong bill championed for years by Jersey congressman | 2019-11-29 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | NJ.com/Star Ledger ArticleTrump signs Hong Kong bill championed for years by Jersey congressman f t # e Washington, Nov 29, 2019 Legislation to support Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Trump acted Wednesday evening as he traveled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Thanksgiving holiday. The bill had passed Congress with just one dissenting vote. Beating, torturing and jailing of democracy activists is wrong and this historic legislation lets China know that respecting fundamental human rights is paramount, said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., who led the fight in the House to pass the bill. Under the new law, there will be strong sanctions, other ramifications, for the crackdown and abuse of power. The measure requires the U.S. secretary of state to certify annually whether Hong Kong should continue to receive special treatment under U.S. law; ensures that those arrested for participating in peaceful protests are not denied visas to enter the U.S.; requires sanctions against individuals responsible for forcing confessions, torturing protesters or committing other human rights violations; and calls for annual reports on whether Hong Kong is violating U.S. export control laws or United Nations sanctions. Trump said in a statement that he signed the legislation in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all. China protested the move on Thursday, threatening retaliation. Both countries are engaged in trade talks, and have imposed tariffs on each other's exports. The legislation was the culmination of a years-long effort by Smith, who had championed measures to push back a… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406247 | <span class ="kicker">Asbury Park Press Op-Ed by Rep Smith</span>'Sami's Law would protect rideshare passengers from assault' | 2019-11-28 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Family and friends gathered Tuesday evening in Robbinsville, NJ to mourn the death of Samantha Josephson who was killed when she got into the wrong car, thinking it was her Uber ride.Peter Ackerman, Asbury Park Press In March, University of South Carolina senior Samantha Sami Josephson of Robbinsville, N.J., left a late-night outing with her friends alone because she had to work in the morning. The extraordinarily talented student, who had recently earned a full scholarship to Drexel University Law, ordered an Uber. In a congested part of town, a predator pretending to be her Uber driver pulled into the rideshare area, and Sami got into the car.After he locked the doors and trapped her in his vehicle, he brutally murdered her.Less than 24 hours later her dead body was found in a field. The murderer was caught, jailed and awaits trial. Almost immediately and notwithstanding their excruciating agony over the loss of their precious daughter, Sami's parents Seymour and Marci Josephson began pushing for federal and state legislation to better ensure that no one else loses their life or gets assaulted by a rideshare driver or a predator who pretends to be. Samantha Josephson, a 21-year-old University of South Carolina student, was found dead in Columbia, S.C.(Photo: Columbia, South Carolina Police Department) Working with the Josephson's, I introduced Sami's Law legislation (HR 4686) to betterprotect passengers especially women who utilize rideshare services including, Uber and Lyft, from sexual assault and other forms of violence. Our bipartisan bill, Tom Suozzi,D-N.Y.,is the Democrat cosponsor, will push states to require front license plates and scannable codes such as quick response or QR codes on both back-passenger side windows that riders could scan on a smart device to verify their ride before entering a vehicle. Hundreds attend memorial service at the West Town Center Lake gazebo in Robbinsville, N.J. for University of South Carolina senior Samantha Josephson. Josephson was killed aft… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406244 | <span class ="kicker">President Signs Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act; Smith First Introduced Bill in 2014</span>Remarks of Rep. Chris Smith on Enactment | 2019-11-27 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are the remarks of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) after President Trump's signing of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which Smith first introduced in 2014: The enactment of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Actwhich was expected and greatly welcomedmakes it abundantly clear that the Trump Administration, the United States Congress, and the American people stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. Xi Jining should understand that the US is not kidding about human rights.Beating, torturing and jailing of democracy activists is wrong and this historic legislation lets China know that respecting fundamental human rights is paramount. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China has significantly worsened including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution , human trafficking and genocide against Muslim Uighurs. We have always believed that every person in China deserves better than the brutality so many endure and the systematic violations of their universally recognized human rights. Under the new law, there will be strong sanctions, and other ramifications, for the crackdown and abuse of power. China is an export economy.If they lose trading benefits because of their deterioration in respecting autonomy and basic human rights, it will be a catastrophic blow to the economy in China. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406246 | <span class ="kicker">AP article on Smith Bill</span>'Trump signs bills in support of Hong Kong protesters' | 2019-11-27 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed two bills aimed at supporting human rights and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Trump signed the bills, which were approved by near unanimous consent in the House and Senate, even as he expressed some concerns about complicating the effort to work out a trade deal with China's President Xi Jinping. "I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong," Trump said in a statement. "They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all." Congress approved the bills last week following months of unrest in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Before Wednesday's signing announcement, Trump would only commit to giving the measures a "hard look." China had threatened to take unspecified, "strong countermeasures" if the bills were signed into law. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act mandates sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who carry out human rights abuses and requires an annual review of the favorable trade status that Washington grants Hong Kong. Another bill prohibits export to Hong Kong police of certain nonlethal munitions, including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, water cannons, stun guns and tasers. The munitions bill was passed unanimously, while Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the sole House member to oppose the human rights bill. Trump acknowledged last week that he was weighing the ramifications of signing the bill. "Look, we have to stand with Hong Kong," Trump said in an interview on "Fox & Friends." He continued: "But I'm also standing with President Xi. He's a friend of mine. He's an incredible guy." Democratic and Republican lawmakers applauded the signing of the bills. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said it "finally sends a clear and unequivocal message to the people of Hong Kong: We are with you." Sen. Jim Risch, an … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406241 | <span class ="kicker">NJ.com Article on Smith Hong Kong Human Rights Legislation</span>'Trump gets bill championed by N.J. Republican to stand with Hong Kong protesters' | 2019-11-21 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congress took steps Wednesday to support the ongoing protests in Hong Kong against Chinese rule as the U.S. House cleared legislation to penalize a crack down on the demonstrators. The legislation passed, 417-1, and now goes to President Donald Trump. Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., cast the only no vote. Congress is making it clear that beating, torturing and jailing democracy activists is wrong. We stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong, said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., who led the House debate. There will be strong sanctions, other ramifications, for this crackdown and abuse of power. The House had approved a similar bill last month, but acquiesced and passed the version approved by the Senate on Tuesday. Congress has done its job," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "As the situation in Hong Kong nears a breaking point, President Trump must not waste any time in signing this critical bill into law. The measure requires that the U.S. secretary of state certifiy annually whether Hong Kong should continue to receive its special treatment under U.S. law; ensures that those arrested for participating in peaceful protests are not denied visas to enter the U.S.; requires sanctions against individuals responsible for forcing confessions, torturing protesters or committing other human rights violations; and calls for annual reports on whether Hong Kong is violating U.S. export control laws or United Nations sanctions. Smith has sought to pass similar legislation since 2014 but the ongoing Hong Kong protests and China's efforts to suppress them provided the impetus needed for the legislation. In September, he joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and some of the Hong Kong activists at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol. He suggested that if Congress had heeded his call five years ago, the current crackdown might not have happened. It could well have had a chilling effect on what Beijing and the Hong Kong communist leadership is… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406231 | <span class ="kicker">Smith introduced legislation in 2014</span>Debate on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act | 2019-11-20 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) during debate on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 20, 2019: Since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre thirty years ago, I've had the privilege of working with colleagues on both sides of the aisleincluding and especially Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Frank Wolfon human rights, the rule of law and democracy for the people of China. We have always believed that every person in China deserves better than the brutality so many endure and the systematic violations of their universally recognized human rights. China's ruthless dictators do not agree, and they are driven to tighten their control. Today, Hong Kong is burning. The status quo is no longerthe brutal government crackdown on democracy activists has escalated. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China has significantly worsened including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution , human trafficking and genocide against Muslim Uighurs. Last month President Xi ominously warned of even more brutal violence to come in Hong Kong, threatening crushed bodies and shattered bones. And the Hong Kong government prefers bullets and batons over peaceful and political dialogue that would address the Hong Kong people's rightful grievances. That is the sad and disgusting reality. And it is what the Chinese Communist government does bestsuppress, repress, torture and censor. With passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the United States Congress is making it clear that beating, torturing and jailing democracy activists is wrong. We stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. There will be strong sanctions, other ramifications, for this crackdown and abuse of power. The people of Hong Kong have feared for their freedom for a long time. In 2014, I met with Martin Lee and Anson Chan, two titans of Hong Kong's democracy movement. Theyand Scott Flipse of the China Commissionm… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406235 | <span class ="kicker">Smith first introduced the bill five years ago</span>House OK's Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act | 2019-11-20 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON, DC Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) helped manage debate and final passage today of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act which he had introduced in every Congress since 2014while on the streets of Hong Kong students demonstrated amid escalating threats by the Chinese Communist government against Hong Kong's residents. On Today, Hong Kong is burning. The status quo is no longerthe brutal government crackdown on democracy activists has escalated. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China has significantly worsened including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution , human trafficking and genocide against Muslim Uighurs, said Smith, Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC). He is the author of the House companion bill that passed in October. The Hong Kong government prefers bullets and batons over peaceful and political dialogue that would address the Hong Kong people's rightful grievances.That is the sad and disgusting reality.And it is what the Chinese Communist government does bestsuppress, repress, torture and censor. Click here to read Congressman Smith's full statement. Smith's Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, H.R. 3289, which he first introduced in an earlier version five years ago, passed the House October 15. The final bill that passed today, was drafted in collaboration with colleagues in the Senate, S.1838, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio. With passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the United States Congress is making it clear that beating, torturing and jailing democracy activists is wrong, Smith said. We stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. There will be strong sanctions, other ramifications, for this crackdown and abuse of power. The final bill has sanctions for those who commit human rights abuses. Although the controversial extradition bill to allow extradition of Hong Kong residents to China was begrudgingly wit… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406227 | <span class ="kicker">News12NJ Segment on Braeden Bradforth</span>'Rep. Smith: Death of NJ football player was '100% preventable' ' | 2019-11-18 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | News12NJ Segment on Braeden Bradforth'Rep. Smith: Death of NJ football player was '100% preventable' ' f t # e EDISON, NJ , Nov 18, 2019 Posted: Nov 16, 2019 10:46 PM EST Updated: Nov 16, 2019 11:26 PM EST Rep. Chris Smith held a press conference Saturday regarding the investigation into the death of a New Jersey football player. Braeden Bradforth, of Neptune, died last August after a football practice at Garden City Community College in Kansas. Bradforth's mother hopes that the incident will help save others students. "This fight was for Braeden at first but now it's for the rest of the kids," said Joanne Atkins-Ingram.His autopsy later revealed he died because of exertional heat stroke. Smith says the report shows that Bradforth's death was 100% preventable. Earlier this year, Smith introduced legislation aimed at reducing this type of heat stroke in high school and college athletes. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406213 | <span class ="kicker"></span>Braeden Bradforths Mother and Rep. Chris Smith React to Independent Report on Football Players Death | 2019-11-16 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Joanne Atkins-Ingram, mother of Braeden Bradforth, with U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at her side along with her friend and attorney Jill Greene, spoke at a press conference today about the newly released independent investigation into the death of her sona Neptune, NJ resident and student who died of exertional heat stroke after football practice at Garden City Community College (GCCC) in Kansas in August 2018. At some points holding back tears yet always showing a steely resolve, Braeden's mom shared the burden and griefshe carries since Braeden's sudden and tragic death: I'm relieved that the rest of the world now knows what I've known all along. I can't say thank you enough to Congressman Smith and his staff, the Asbury Park Press and every reporter and news outlet who helped keep this story alive and relevant, because Braeden's story needs to be told, said Atkins-Ingram, also noting the Star Ledger, News12 New Jersey and several out-of-state reporters who called into the press conference. The bipartisan bill is cosponsored by Democrat Rep. Josh Gotttheimer, also of New Jersey. Smith, who introduced H.R. 4145,Braeden's Commission: Protect our Athletes from Exertional Heat Strokeon August 2, said that after several months of aggressively pushing for an independent investigation, the four-person investigative team exposed a striking lack of leadership, as well as failure after failure on the part of the college to prevent Braeden's death from exertional heat strokewhich the report confirmed as a preventable death. The independent investigation found serious failings in both identifying exertional heat stroke and effective, timely interventions, said Smith, who pressed GCCC President Ryan Ruda for the independent investigation into Braeden's death ina March 2019 letter. There was a failure to have and implement an effective Emergency Action Plan. The investigators also said a cause of Braedon Bradforth's death was a poorly-designed and administered conditioning test for an unconditioned, non-acclimated s… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406221 | <span class ="kicker">APP on Press Conf. W Rep. Smith and Mother of Braeden Brandon</span>'Braeden Bradforth: After scathing report, accountability needed in death of Neptune star' | 2019-11-15 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Stephen Edelson, Asbury Park Press Published 2:13 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2019 |Updated 7:53 a.m. ET Nov. 16, 2019 It's not an easy read asthe tragic events of Aug. 1, 2018are laid out in painstaking detail by anindependent investigation into the heatstroke death of former Neptune High School star Braeden Bradforthat Garden City (Kansas) Community College. Like the events that played out during thebrutal conditioning test the 315-pound Bradforth was trying to complete on a hot evening. How one player told investigators that Braden looked like he was going to pass out, and how former Garden City head coach Jeff Sims, "cussed out Braden, stating that he was soft that embarrassed Braeden in front of the whole team and that Braeden kept trying to run to try to prove that he wasn't soft." Or the extended timeline in getting help for Bradforth once he was found in distress due to a delay in calling an EMS crew that might have been able to save his life in the aftermath of a test, which involved running 36 50-yard sprints in eight seconds or less. Read the full report at the bottom of this story. Now it's time to hold those responsible for Bradforth's death accountable, including the school and Sims, now the head coach at Missouri Southern State University, after leading Garden City to the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship in 2016. A scathing independent investigation found a series of mistakes at Garden City Community College led to the death of former Neptune High School star Braeden Bradforth.(Photo: Jill Greene) "All of the facts laid out about how unprepared that athletic program is for what it's trying to do,"said attorney Chris Dove, retained by Bradforth's mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram. "Trying to be this big athletic powerhouse on the backs of all these kids, many who are not from Kansas, to promote the school, and for the coaches to, in some cases, move up the career ladder. "They're not at all prepared for what they need to do to support those athletes. It's … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406230 | <span class ="kicker">NJ101.5 Story on Neptune's Braeden Bradforth</span>'College blamed for preventable heat-stroke death of NJ athlete' | 2019-11-15 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By NJ101.5 Reporter Sergio Bichao| An independent investigation has pinned the death last year of a 19-year-old Jersey Shore athlete on a "striking lack of leadership" at a Kansas college. Braeden Bradforth, a Neptune High School graduate, died Aug. 1, 2018, from heat stroke after attending a high-intensity workout at Garden City Community College. A probe commissioned by the college's Board of Trustees in May concluded last month that Bradforth's death could have been prevented if the school had bothered to properly assess the physical condition of student athletes and if the school had developed an emergency response planforathletes who suffer heat illness. The 48-page report submitted by sports medicine consultant Rod Walters and Randy J. Aliment of Los Angeles-based law firm Lewis Brisbois, found a "striking lack of leadership by President Herbert Swender, Athletic Director John Green, Head Football Coach Jeff Sims, and Head Athletic Trainer TJ Horton, during the weeks and months leading up to August 1, 2018. "There was little to no oversight of the preparation for and execution of the August 1, 2018 conditioning test designed and run by Coach Sims. This lack of oversight set off a series of events that ended with the death of Braeden Bradforth." U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. 4th District, on Thursday called the report "heartbreaking." He and Bradforth's mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram, have pushed for a federal commission that would develop ways for high schools and colleges to reduceexertional heat stroke in athletes. We must do all we can to identify the signs and treat this life-threatening medical emergency before it takes another athlete, Smith said in written statement. Since Braeden's death 15 months ago, more athletes have been stricken with exertional heat strokeand many before Braeden, including the June 2018 death of Jordan McNair, a University of Maryland football player. The report noted that while Bradforth's doctor had him "cleared without restrictions" for participation in athletics,… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406169 | Report of Independent Investigation: Death of Braeden Bradforth | 2019-11-14 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Report of Independent Investigation: Death of Braeden Bradforth f t # e WASHINGTON, DC , Nov 14, 2019 The independent report on the death of Braeden Bradforth, a 19-year-old student athlete from Neptune, NJ who died after football practice on Aug. 1, 2018 at Garden City Community College (GCCC) in Kansas, was released by GCCC this week. It was completed on Oct. 28, 2019 by Rod Waters, a Consultant in Sports Medicine. To view a copy of the released report, click here. ### f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406209 | <span class ="kicker">College Criticized for Striking Lack of Leadership in Investigation into death of Braeden Bradforth</span>Rep. Chris Smith Calls Report 'Utterly Heartbreaking' | 2019-11-14 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said today that, the report summarizing the independent investigation into the death of Braeden Bradforth is utterly heartbreaking in that it confirms that Braeden's death was 100 percent preventable. The investigator found that a striking lack of leadership' by Garden City Community College officials set off a series of events that ended with the death of Braeden Bradforth.'I can only imagine how difficult this is for Braeden's mom, Joanne, to read; yet it is exactly what she and I have long requesteda transparent and independent review of the facts so steps can be taken to prevent another death of a student athlete, Smith said. In a very special way Joanne's incredible love and devotion to Braeden, inspired this report precisely so that no other parent has to suffer what she has the loss of a child from something that could have been prevented.Its findings must now serve as the basis for new protocols and protections going forward, Smith said. Smith said the report did not hold back in identifying specific gaps in the college's training and care programs for its athletes. He pointed to pages 38 and 39 which concluded: A cause of Braedon Bradforth's death was a poorly designed and administered conditioning test for an unconditioned, non-acclimated student-athlete. A contributing cause of Braedon Bradforth's death was the failure to have and implement an effective Emergency Action Plan. No pre-existing condition played a role in causing Braeden Bradforth's death. PHOTO: Braeden's mom, Joanne Atkins-Ingram, is flanked by her attorney Jill Greene and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at an April 5 press conf. We must do all we can to identify the signs and treat this life-threatening medical emergency before it takes another athlete, Smith said. Since Braeden's death 15 months ago, more athletes have been stricken with exertional heat strokeand many before Braeden, including the June 2018 death of J… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406220 | <span class ="kicker">NJ.com article on NJ mom of Braeden Bradforth Smith is helping</span>'Report rips Kansas college for N.J. football players heat stroke death on first day of practice' | 2019-11-14 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | A law firm hired by the Kansas junior college where a former Neptune High School football player died of heat stroke on his first day of practice last year found a striking lack of leadership by the college officials and coaches leading up to 19-year-old Braeden Bradforth's death 1,500 miles from home. The Los Angeles-based firm, Lewis Brisbois LLP, which delivered its withering critique in a report made public Thursday by Bradforth's mother, also found that there had been little to no oversight of the conditioning drill designed and run by Garden City Community College's then-head coach 36 wind sprints of 50 yards each with little rest in between that, combined with the hot, humid weather, Bradforth's health, and other factors, led to the young scholar-athlete's death on Aug. 1, 2018. Futhermore, the report found, team coaches and trainers, EMTs and even emergency room staff at St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Kansas, all failed to recognize and treat Bradforth's symptoms of heat stroke, which need not be fatal when spotted in time and treated by immersing the victim in a tub of cold water. No Garden City Community College athletic training or coaching staff member and no Emergency Medical Service or Emergency Department personnel identified or treated Braeden Bradforth's escalating symptoms of the exertional heat stroke that caused his death, the report stated. The 6-foot-3, 300-lb. lineman had been a standout at Neptune High School, described as a gentle giant, well liked by teammates and classmates who deeply mourned his death. The report said Bradforth, who suffered from asthma, arrived on the GCCC campus out of shape and, at 315 pounds, overweight, and that special recommendations by his New Jersey doctor written on his athletic waiver were not noticed by his coaches in Kansas. In addition, the report noted, the GCCC campus is much higher above sea level than Bradforth's native New Jersey, with 9% less oxygen in the air. After an evening conditioning session the team's second practice of … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406240 | <span class ="kicker">'Do we need more laws? Maybe. But more than anything else, we need to further prioritize combatting human trafficking, especially through prosecution.'</span>Protecting the Weakest and Most Vulnerable from the Cruelty of Human Traffi | 2019-11-14 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) addressing theCounty Prosecutors Association of New Jersey at its conference at theBorgata Hotel, Atlantic City, N.J. on Sunday Nov. 24:Congratulations to CPANJ's new PresidentAngelo Onofrian effective, aggressive and principled prosecutor whom I have known and deeply respected for over 35 years. Thank you, Assistant AG Annmarie Taggart, Dawne Lomangino-DiMauro, Heather Headley, and Kim Murphy for your extraordinary personal and professional commitments to ending modern-day slaveryin all its horrific manifestations. When I first introduced the Trafficking Victims' Protection Act (TVPA), more than twenty years ago, the legislation was met with a wall of skepticism and oppositiondismissed by many as a solution in search of a problem. Several Members of Congress turned me down when I asked them to cosponsor the bill. For most people at that timeincluding lawmakersthe term trafficking applied almost exclusively to drugs and weapons, not human beings. Reports of vulnerable personsespecially women and childrenbeing reduced to commodities for sale were often met with surprise, incredulity or indifference. My legislationthe Trafficking Victims Protection Act signed into law in the year 2000, created a new whole-of-government domestic and international strategy and established numerous new programs to protect victims, prosecute traffickers and to the extent possible prevent it in the first placethe three Ps. (Over the years, I've authored four additional laws to combat human traffickingincluding in 2003, 2005, 2016, and 2019.) Of particular interest to you as prosecutors, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act included a number of sea change criminal code reforms including treating as a victimand not a perpetrator of a crimeanyone exploited by a commercial sex act who had not attained the age of 18 and anyone older where there was an element of force, fraud or coercion. The TVPA radically reformed the US criminal code to authorize asset confiscation and j… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406207 | <span class ="kicker"> | 2019-11-13 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Following news that an independent investigation called for by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) into the death of Braeden Bradfortha Monmouth County resident and student at Garden City Community College in Kansas (GCCC)would be released by the GCCC Board of Trustees to his family, Smith commended the Board for making the compassionate and respectful decision. Braeden's mother, Joanne, is entitled to absolutely every detail in the report, and the decision to share all of the information with the family was expected and is appreciated, said Smith, who asked GCCC President Ryan Ruda for the independent investigation into Braeden's death in a March 2019 letter. Braeden's family has suffered tremendously since his death, and we will be scrutinizing the report to see what improvements and protocols can be made in athletic programs around the country so that no more student athletes die from the completely preventable exertional heat stroke (EHS). A mother's love for her son moved the college to reverse its bunker mentality and conduct an independent investigation of the circumstances that led to his death, and the college has appeared to have made some changes, Smith said. I stand ready to work with Joanne to move not just GCCC, but the nation, to establish minimum standards andbest practices to prevent another senseless loss of a young life pursuing the dream of scholastic sports, said Smith, who introduced H.R. 4145, Protect our Athletes from Exertional Heat Stroke: Braeden's Commission to better protect students and families from EHS with a commission that determines the best ways to make sure that what happened to Braeden does not happen again. H.R. 4145 would establish a commission to conduct a study on exertional heat stroke among student athletes at educational institutions across the country to study best practices for prevention, recognition and treatment of exertional heat stroke, and develop recommendations for the purpose of reducing fatalities from exertional heat stroke among student athletes. Smit… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406215 | <span class ="kicker">Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece: 'Abortion Extremists Hijack the U.N.'</span>'Organizers of the Nairobi Summit attempt to undo the careful consensus forged at Cairo a quarter-century ago.' | 2019-11-11 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following opinion piecewas published by the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 11, 2019. By Chris Smith Nov. 11, 2019 6:43 pm ET The governments of Kenya and Denmark and the United Nations Population Fund are attempting to hijack the U.N.'s global population and development work to support an extreme pro-abortion agenda. On Tuesday UNFPA opens the three-day Nairobi Summit, 25 years after the International Conference on Population Development in Cairo. As a member of Congress I attended the ICPD, where 179 governments and 11,000 participants developed an international consensus. Participants rejected a global right to abortionpushed by the Clinton administration, among othersand agreed that governments should take appropriate steps to help women avoid abortion, which in no case should be promoted as a method of family planning. Protesters demonstrate against the International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 11. PHOTO:DANIEL IRUNGU/SHUTTERSTOCK They respected national sovereignty, stating that measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process. They urged full respect for the various religious and ethical values, cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions of diverse countries while respecting universally recognized human rights. In contrast, conveners of the Nairobi Summit have blocked attendance by conservative organizations and excluded countries and stakeholders that disagree with their agenda from offering input on the substance and planning of the conference. This includes the U.S., which under President Trump has stated its objection at the U.N. to the use of ambiguous terms and expressions, such as sexual health and reproductive rights, on the grounds that such terms promote practices like abortion in circumstances that do not enjoy international consensus and which can be misinterpreted by U.N. … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406206 | Smith Statement on 30th Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall, & Grim 100-year Mark of Bolshevik Revolution | 2019-11-09 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and other members of Congress this week marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 7, and the 100-year mark of the birth of the Bolshevik Revolution on Nov. 9. When I was elected to Congress, the extremely dark cloud of communism hung over the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and many places in Latin America and Asia," said Smith. "Every communist country was a significant threat to peace and security. Communist governments victimized their own citizens, with tens of millions killed or imprisoned in the gulags and laogai. God is mocked, trivialized and hated by communist governments. Most churches and synagogues were desecrated or destroyed. November 7the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russiais dedicated to the many victims of Communism." Smith, Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) andRep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), who together co-chair of the congressional Caucus for the Victims of Communism, introduced a resolution to designate Nov. 7 as "Victims of Communism Memorial Day." H.Res. 679, encourages the President to issue an annualproclamation declaring a National Day for the Victims of Communism, commemorating the 100 million victims of communism, and condemning the gross human rights abuses of communist governments, past and present. With the emergence of leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II in the Westand human rights advocate like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa behind the Iron Curtainthe pernicious evil of communism was challenged and overcome," Smith said. "November 9 marks the fall of the Berlin Wall, and is a day of liberation for many in Eastern Europe." In part, the resolution states: "the philosophy of Karl Marx, communism has proven incompatible with the ideals of liberty, prosperity, and dignity of human life, and has given rise to such infamous totalitarian dictators as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceausescu, the Castro brothers, and the Kim dynasty." It further reads: "Communist regimes wor… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406201 | <span class ="kicker">WOBM Radio Interview on NIH, Smith Bill</span>'Congressman Chris Smith Highlights New Plan to Fight Lyme Disease' | 2019-11-06 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Vin Ebenau WOBM Morning Anchor - Jersey Shore Congressman Chris Smith (R - Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean) has introduced a new plan to combat Lyme Disease which affects so many people across the state and country. The National Institutes of Health's (NIH) new national research multi-partplan includes five pillars: expands knowledge of tickborne diseases, develops rapid diagnostic testing, identifies treatment success and human biomarkers of persistent symptoms, develops new treatments and evaluating prevention approaches such as vaccines and strengthen therapeutic security. Everything that was embedded in our first bill in 1998 (The Lyme Disease Initiative of 1998) and every bill thereafter is captured in the five pillars in the NIH plan, Smith said. NIH appears to be forging ahead for researching Lyme and other tick-borne diseases to better diagnose and treat those suffering from this horrific disease." The NIH plan mirrors several other bills Smith has introduced over the years which have put pressure on the federal government to establish a responsive, comprehensive, scientific strategy to help those gravely ill from Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. "This is a chronic and ever expanding disease and it has a lot of other co-infections, not just Lyme disease, but the ticks are carrying a hybrid of sickness and pathogens," Smith said. Representative Smith has had continued conversations with various groups and individuals in Washington pushing for more funding and research. "The new strategy will lead to a very serious increase in how much we spend for research, currently at about 30-million dollars, but it needs to be tripled if not quadrupled to get to that critical mass of research that will find a cure and a diagnostic that works because right now most people get false negatives and are told they don't have it from the tests being administered by most doctors," Smith said. "The physicians would be better educated under this new initiative." The NIH said this Strategic Plan for Tickborne… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406204 | Rep. Smith Visits Monmouth County School | 2019-11-06 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Smith Visits Monmouth County School f t # e Shrewsbury, NJ , Nov 6, 2019 Congressman Chris Smith visited with students at Shrewsbury Borough School on Obre Place in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County. Brent MacConnell, the Superintendent and Principal, hosted Smith for the Nov. 5 event. The congressman met with about 115 students in attendance from the 7th and 8th grades. The students asked thoughtful questions about Congress, and federal government, legislation and other issues. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406198 | <span class ="kicker">Washington Examiner Focus on Smith Legislation</span>'Chris Smith optimistic about three-decade quest for Lyme disease bill' | 2019-11-05 | 2019 | 2019-11 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Cassidy Morrison| November 05, 2019 After working nearly 30 years to pass major legislation to research treatments for Lyme disease, the tick-borne infection that causes more than 300,000 illnesses each year, Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey is newly optimistic about a breakthrough. The Senate Health Committee voted Thursday on a bipartisan basis to advance the upper chamber's version of Smith's bill after Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine renamed it to honor the late Sen. Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat who died on Oct. 28 of complications from the tick-borne disease called Powassan virus. The legislation would require the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy to counter Lyme disease and boost funding for research, including a new $20 million-a-year funding stream to state governments through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Kay Hagan Tick Act and Smith's companion bill in the House are the first pieces of legislation to address tick-borne diseases exclusively. "I'm very optimistic for the future because so many other diseases have been close to eradicated. And now we have a blueprint at hand that I think will lead to the end of this epidemic," Smith told the Washington Examiner. Smith began crusading for more federal Lyme disease research in 1992, when he first urged the CDC and National Institutes of Health to look into Lyme prevention and treatment measures. In 1998, he introduced the Lyme Disease Initiative Act to create an affordable Lyme detection test, a case reporting system, and education efforts for doctors to better understand and treat Lyme disease. He introduced the bill in seven subsequent sessions of Congress, but it never passed. Yet, Smith's battle was only beginning. He became even more dedicated six years ago when his then-35-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Lyme disease, right as he was pushing, successfully, to include a measure setting up a Lyme disease working group between the CDC and NIH within a l… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406196 | HFAC Passes Bipartisan Resolution Supporting Work of Inter-American Foundation | 2019-10-30 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed a bipartisan resolution, H.Res. 649, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the committee, and Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade, commending the Inter-American Foundation for its 50-year effort to improve the economic and social development of countries in the Western Hemisphere. IAF prizes community-led projects and small-scale entrepreneurship as a way to give underserved people a stake in their societies, and a hand-up, not a hand-out, said Smith, a member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee and Ranking Member of the Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights Subcommittee. IAF, as well as its sister organization the Africa Development Foundation, leverages and encourages the financial and sweat equity of people in the community and the countries being assisted to maximize value to our taxpayers while incentivizing recipients of assistance to take their future in their own hands. It also understands the role played by churches and faith-based organizations in tight-knit communities and works with them. I am pleased to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Inter-American Foundation and recognize its important contributions to improving quality of life in the Western Hemisphere, said Sires. The organization has provided over 5,000 community-led grants over the last five decades to empower marginalized and underserved communities. The Inter-American Foundation continues to demonstrate that promoting economic development in the region not only makes for more prosperous and just societies, but also advances American interests, said Sires. Smith told the committee that IAF's low overhead, about 14 percent of the money it receives, allows it to maximize its investment in underserved communities. It has pioneered agriculture-led economic development, and coordinates with other such initiatives such as Feed the Future to ensure that its wor… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406193 | <span class="kicker">APP Article on Smith Press Conf. on NIH Lyme Plan</span>' 'Finally taking this seriously.' On chronic Lyme disease, a government breakthrough' | 2019-10-29 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press WALL - Brian Dashore was a second-grader attending Little League practice one day when, seemingly out of nowhere, he collapsed. Assuming fatigue, the Marlboro resident went home and slept. The next day I woke up with severe pain in my hips and legs, he said. I was like that for two years. At first doctors suspected juvenile arthritis. Then cancer. Finally,after 10 false negatives, he tested positive for Lyme disease. By then, much of the damage was done. He spent nearly two years in a wheelchair, and ittook eight years of treatment to fully turn the corner. I've had debilitating pain in my legs, brain fog, motor ticks, head shaking, he said. It's like a hiccup that you can't control. I could not concentrate at all. Marlboro's Jodie Dashore, a chronic Lyme disease survivor and a practitioner who treats others with the condition, speaks at Friday's press conference in Wall. At left are Wall resident Pat Smith, president of the Lyme Disease Association (far left) and Rep. Chris Smith (second from left).(Photo: Jerry Carino) Now Dashore, a senior at the Academy of Allied Health and Science in Neptune, is an advocate for other teens with chronic Lyme. That's what brought him to Friday's press conference conducted by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith and Wall resident Pat Smith (no relation), president of the national nonprofit Lyme Disease Association. The news: Afterdecades of foot-dragging, the National Institutes of Health has formulateda strategic plan for tick-borne disease research. RELATED:Tips to prevent Lyme disease RELATED:Lyme disease a bioweapon gone awry? A breakthrough onchronic Lyme For those who pay close attention to the matter: There are three references in the 25-page strategic plan to persistent and long-term symptoms a long-awaited formal acknowledgement from the federal government that sometimes the standard course of treatment for Lyme and related infections (a 2-4 week course of antibiotics) isn't enough, especially when diagnosis isn't prompt. … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406194 | <span class ="kicker">Smith, a co-sponsor of H.Res. 296, manages debate on House floor</span>Affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide | 2019-10-29 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Republican manager of debate of H.Res. 296 on the Floor of the House of Representatives, on October 29, 2019: When the term genocide was created in 1944 to describe the systematic destruction of an entire people, its author Raphael Lemkin explained the term by saying, it was the sort of thing Hitler did to the Jews and the Turks did to the Armenians.'' On ordering the invasion of Poland in 1939, Adolf Hilter said: [w]ho, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? In the year 2000 and again in 2015, I chaired two congressional hearings on the Armenian Genocide. In 2000, the House was moving to pass a resolution by Congressmen Radanovich and BonierH. Res. 398. After hearing fact-based eloquent testimonies from Congressmen James Rogan and David Bonier followed by the State Department, history professors, and then witnesses from both the Armenian and Turkish side, my subcommittee successfully marked up H. Res. 398 for consideration by the full committee. Ambassador Marc Grossman testified at the hearing that President Bill Clinton was against the Armenian Genocide resolution. That opposition proved to be very significant. As we were moving with the highest expectations towards passage, President Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger took the extraordinary step of admonishing Speaker Hastert not to bring it to the floor. He caved. The resolution never even got a vote. In 2007, Chairman Tom Lantos tried again, and successfully reported a resolution out of committee sponsored by Congressmen Schiff and RadanovichH. Res. 106. That too never made it to the floor. That changes today. The Affirming the United States record on the Armenian GenocideH. Res. 296 is a sense of Congress resolution that: commemorates the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance. The resolution notes that the United States has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, through the United States Gover… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406187 | <span class ="kicker">New National Initiative Has Roots at Jersey Shore</span>Smith, Lyme Disease Patient Advocates Praise NIH Launch of Lyme Research | 2019-10-25 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Patients who suffer from Lyme disease joined advocacy leaders and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at a press conference Friday to mark the launching of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) new national research strategy to combat Lyme disease. Priorities in the NIH multipart plan include the five pillars of: expanding knowledge of tickborne diseases; developing rapid diagnostic testing; identifying treatment success and human biomarkers of persistent symptoms; developing new treatments; and evaluating prevention approaches such as vaccines. Everything that was embedded in our first bill in 1998and every bill thereafteris captured in the five pillars in the NIH plan, Smith told reporters and a group of Lyme patients and their families. We have waited for this initiative for a long time, but in launching this effort, NIH appears to be forging ahead for researching Lyme and other tick-borne diseases to better diagnose and treat those suffering from this horrific disease,said Smith, who has led federal efforts to combat Lyme disease for more than 27 years. He noted the NIH plan reads like the text of several of the bills he has introduced over the years pushing the federal government to establish a responsive, comprehensive, scientific strategy to help those gravely ill from Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Smith, the co-chair of the congressional Lyme Disease Caucus, is also the author of the pending TICK Act (HR 3073), which will develop a whole-of-government National Strategy to prevent and treat Lyme and other vector-borne diseases.Smith's legislation would create a new Office of Oversight and Coordination for Vector-borne Disease in the Department of Health and Human Services coordinating strategies across the entire federal governmentincluding the NIH, and also the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Interior, Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency. We have a bill called The Tick Act which would codify the idea of a national strategy, Smith said. He noted that the fight against Lyme… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406185 | Rep. Smith Statement on Extradition of Judge Neringa Venckiene | 2019-10-23 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Smith Statement on Extradition of Judge Neringa Venckiene f t # e Washington, Oct 23, 2019 The following is a statement by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on the extradition of Judge Neringa Venckiene: I strongly object to the extradition notice issued last week against Lithuanian anti-human trafficking and anti-corruption hero, Judge Neringa Venckiene, said Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on her challenge to an extradition request from the Lithuanian government.She exposed a trafficking ring involving government officials in Lithuania, and for this suffered political persecution in her native country. She fled to the United States and sought asylum, yet is being extradited while her asylum petition is pending her trial was adjourned unilaterally by the court to 2022, effectively denying her the ability to demonstrate the merits of her asylum claim. An injustice is being committed, and I not only fear that she will be again railroaded by a corrupt justice' system in Lithuania, but that her life may be in danger. I call upon the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois to stay extradition so as to allow Judge Venckiene her day in court. Click here to read text of H.R. 1107, a private bill regarding Judge Venckiene introduced by Rep. Smith. To read testimony or watch a congressional hearing of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe entitled The Extradition Case of Judge Venckiene, click on the link. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406200 | <span class ="kicker">Smith a co-sponsor of bill</span>Passage of Bipartisan PACT Act, Protecting Animals From Cruelty in Key Utilization of New House Rules | 2019-10-21 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Today, October 21, 2019, the Problem Solvers Caucus praised the passage of H.R. 724, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act of 2019, which utilized the new House Consensus Calendar to help get a debate and vote on the House floor. This legislation creates a federal animal cruelty statute prohibiting the most heinous acts of abuse which can occur beyond the reach of state cruelty laws. The initiative received priority consideration on the House floor by having more than 290 bipartisan cosponsors a key new house rule the Problem Solvers Caucus fought for early this Congress. The bill had 301 bipartisan co-sponsors when it reached the floor today. H.R. 724 would make some of the most egregious forms of animal cruelty (specifically crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, or sexual exploitation) in or affecting interstate commerce or within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States a federal crime. The current federal law prohibiting the creation and distribution of crush videos does not cover the underlying acts of animal abuse. The PACT Act extends federal jurisdiction to these specific and unspeakable acts of animal abuse, thereby closing the loophole. Though animal fighting and the distribution of so-called crush videos are illegal under federal law, the vast majority of animal cruelty laws are at the state level. Under the new House Rules, once a bill reaches 290 co-sponsors, a 25 legislative day clock will begin. If the primary committee of jurisdiction does not report the bill out of committee by the end of the 25 legislative days, the legislation will be placed on the new Consensus Calendar, where it will remain until the bill is considered. For every in-session week, after February 28th of the First Session and before September 30th of the Second Session, majority leadership will be required to bring at least one bill on the Consensus Calendar to the House floor for a vote. Rep. Ted Deutch, the lead sponsor of H.R.724, filed a motion to place the bill on the House's … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406182 | <span class ="kicker">News Article by NJ Globe</span>Smith bill to protect ride-share users considered by House panel | 2019-10-17 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By David Wildstein, NJ Globe - Uber and Lyft were no-shows at a congressional hearing today on legislation sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton) to protect ride-share users from sexual assault and other crimes Smith's bill comes seven months after Sami Josephson, a Robbinsville resident, was murdered by a predator pretending to be an Uber driver. The parents of the woman, Seymour and Marci Josephson, worked with Smith to create Sami's Law, which would push for all states to have front license plates and scannable codes so that a raider could verify their ride before entering a vehicle. These measures would not only ensure vehicle and driver identification for riders, assist law enforcement in tracking harmful offenders but protects drivers as well by confirming the passenger, Smith said. Sami's Law requires the GAO to study the incidence of assault and abuse of riders and drivers and the nature and specifics of any background checks of drivers and state laws that may require such background checks. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton) testifies in support of "Sami's Law," before the House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on October 16, 2019. Smith praised Gov.Phil Murphyand Senate President Steve Sweeney for a new law that is nearly identical to his federal legislation. The Josephson's and Smith met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, committee and subcommittee chairs and ranking members. This article was originally publiched online on Oct. 16, 2019 and can be found online at: https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/smith-bill-to-protect-ride-share-users-considered-by-house-panel/ | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406177 | <span class ="kicker">Legislation Would Improve Ride-Share Safety</span>Reps. Smith, Suozzi Testify on Proposed Samis Law | 2019-10-16 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Bipartisan legislation named in honor of Samantha Sami Josephsona senior at the University of South Carolina who was kidnapped and brutally murdered earlier this year by a predator pretending to be her Uber driverwas taken up Wednesday by the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit hearing entitled Examining the Future of Transportation Network Companies: Challenges and Opportunities. Sami's Law, which would establish needed protections for ride-share customers across the country, is authored by Republican Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) with lead Democratic cosponsor, Rep. Tom Suozzi (NY-03) in the House, H.R. 4686.In the Senate prime sponsor Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced a companion bill as S. 1871. Sami's Law will require enhanced vehicle identification procedures to create a safer environment for ride-share drivers and customers and to make it harder for those with ill intent from impersonating drivers. The idea for the legislation came directly from the grieving parents of a young woman brutally murdered by a fake Uber driver. Now we know there are significant personal safety concerns associated with actual Uber and Lyft drivers as wellnot just the fakesthat are not well appreciated or publicized, testified Rep. Smith, who represents Robbinsville, N.J. where Sami grew up and the Josephsons live. Almost immediately and notwithstanding their excruciating agony over the loss of their precious daughter, Sami's parentsSeymour and Marci Josephsonbegan pushing for federal and state legislation to better ensure that no one else loses their life or gets assaulted by a rideshare driver or a predator who pretends to be. Working with the Josephson's, we've crafted a bipartisan bill that would push states to require front license plates and scannable codessuch as QR codeson both back-passenger side windows that riders could scan on a smart device to verify their ride beforeI say again beforeentering a vehicle.Click here to read Smith's testimony. Click here to watch videoof his testimony. Rep. Suozzi told the sub… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406197 | <span class ="kicker">101.5 Story on Smith Ride Share Safety Bill</span>After homicide, NJs ride-share safety bill closer to becoming national law | 2019-10-16 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | ByDan Alexander, 101.5 Staff - Sami's Law a bill named after a Robbinsville student police say was killed by a man she mistook for her Uber driver could nationalize protectionsthat ride-share usersin New Jersey already have under state law. Columbia, South Carolina police said Samantha Josephson got into a black Chevrolet Impala on March 29 after leaving the Bird Dog bar in the city's Five Points area. The body of the USC senior was found several hours later off a country road 65 miles away in New Zion, South Carolina. Samantha's death prompted her parents, Seymour and Marci Josephson, to become advocates for laws that would require ride share drivers to better identify themselves. Gov. Phil Murphy signed such a measure into law in June that requires Uber, Lyft and all ride-share companies to issue two identifying markers to each of their drivers to be displayed on the front and rear windows. It also mandates that companies must provide every driver with two copies of a two-dimensional barcode, or another type of readable code that passengers are able to scan in order to confirm the identity of the vehicle before they get into it. The law also requires ride-share companies to provide two credential placards to be displayed on the driver and passenger side rear windows that show the driver's name, photo and the license plate number. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. 4th District, who represents Robbinsville, is co-sponsoring legislation that would create a similar federal law dubbed "Sami's Law," which was formally introduced to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on Wednesday. The idea for the legislation came directly from the grieving parents of a young woman brutally murdered by a fake Uber driver. Now we know there are significant personal safety concerns associated with actual Uber and Lyft drivers as wellnot just the fakesthat are not well appreciated or publicized, Smithsaid during a committee hearing on Wednesday. "Working with the Josephsons, we've crafted a bipartisan bill that wo… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406171 | Floor Remarks by Rep. Smith, the Prime Sponsor of H.R. 3289the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 | 2019-10-15 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), prime sponsor of H.R. 3289the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019,during Floor Debate in the U.S. of Representatives on October 15, 2019: Since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre thirty years ago, I've had the privilege of working with colleagues on both sides of the aisleincluding Speaker Pelosion human rights, the rule of law and democracy for the people of China. We have always believed that every person in China deserves better than the brutality so many endure and the systematic violations of their universally recognized human rights. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China has significantly worsened including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution and human trafficking. Solemn promises made by Beijing are rarely kept and far too many leaders of the free world are far too eager to blindly accept fiction over fact. Broken promises are the rule not the exception under Xi Jinping and the people of Hong Kong are suffering because of it. During the 2014 Umbrella Movement the world saw the courageous people of Hong Kong demanding that Beijing not renege on promises made to ensure universal suffrage, basic rights and authentic elections in 2017. Despite President Xi's brutal crackdown on peaceful protestorsthen and especially now, triggered this time by an outrageous proposed policy to facilitate extraditionthe resolve, courage, tenacity and clarity of purpose of the people of Hong Kong shines through the darkness like the sun. Two days ago, Reuters reported that President Xi told leaders in Nepal: Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones. Xi's government excels in crushing bodies, shattering bones, torturing dissidents and filling concentration campsmassive crimes against humanity for which there has been little or no accountability or sanction. But today we're simply urging the Chinese Pr… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406173 | <span class ="kicker">*** Congressional Hearing Set for Weds., Oct. 16 ***</span>Reps. Smith, Suozzi to Testify on Proposed Samis Law | 2019-10-15 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Bipartisan legislation named to honor Samantha Sami Josephsona senior at the University of South Carolina from Robbinsville, N.J. who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by a man pretending to be her Uber driver earlier this yearwill be taken up Wednesday by the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit at a hearing entitled Examining the Future of Transportation Network Companies: Challenges and Opportunities. Sami's Law, which would establish needed protections for ride-share customers across the country, is authored by Republican Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) with lead Democratic cosponsor, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) in the House. Smith and Suozzi will address members of the Subcommittee as the lead witnesses on a panel. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Sami's Law will require enhanced vehicle identification procedures to create a safer environment for ride-share drivers and customers and to make it harder for those with ill intent from impersonating drivers. WHAT: Congressional hearing on Sami's Law held by the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, part of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure WHO: Reps. Smith and Suozzi, members of the subcommittee, and witnesses. WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. WHERE: Room 2167 in the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing can be watched live here. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406168 | Monmouth Co. Freeholders, Sheriffs Office Get $1.2 Million Fed Grant to Fight Opioid Addictions | 2019-10-10 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) today announced a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to boost county programs that provide treatment, recovery support systems and relapse prevention for opioid addicts already in the corrections system. Smith praised Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden and the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders Director Thomas A. Arnone for submitting a solid proposal and winning the federal funds in a competitive grant program. The County was awarded a Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program, or COAP, in the amount of $1,199,993 over a three-year period, to expand services to low-level, non-violent drug offenders in county jail. According to the National Institutes for Health, in 2017 there were nearly 2,000 overdose deaths in New Jerseyincluding 172 in Monmouth Countya rate about 50 percent higher than the national average. The opioid crisis needs to be fought at many levels: in Washington, in every state and at the local level, said Rep. Smith (NJ-04). This grant will bring federal dollars to the fight at the county level. Monmouth County Freeholder Director Arnone and the Board of Freeholders gave the go-ahead for this initiative, and Sheriff Golden has run with it. Sheriff Golden and his workers at the county jail are on the front lines in the opioid crisis. Inmates and especially those who are entering the system are vulnerable to relapse, overdosing and death when they are released or make bail. Opioids have ruined many lives and families, but this measure is an attempt to avoid tragedy and reduce deaths. Specifically, the Monmouth County Correctional institution (MCCI), run by Sheriff Golden, will use the grant to expand an existing in-custody medication assisted treatment (MAT) program and provide behavioral treatment. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program (COAP) was developed as part of the federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) legislation Congress passed in 2016. Smith voted for the bill. This grant will e… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406170 | Smith: NIH 'All In' on Lyme Disease Research | 2019-10-10 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the founder and co-chair of the congressional Lyme Disease Caucus today welcomed the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) announcement of a new, expansive research strategy to combat Lyme disease.Priorities in the NIH multipart plan include: expanding knowledge of tickborne diseases; developing rapid diagnostic testing; identifying treatment success and human biomarkers of persistent symptoms; developing new treatments; and evaluating prevention approaches such as vaccines. After lagging for decades, NIH is all in for researching Lyme and other tick-borne diseases to better diagnose and treat those suffering from this horrific disease,said Smith, who has been on the forefront of federal Lyme disease efforts for more than 27 years. This is great news for patients and Lyme-literate doctors who will now have serious, federal partners working aggressively to improve strategies for the detection, treatment, and one day, prevention of Lyme. Smith said the NIH plan reads like the text of several of the bills he has introduced over the years pushing the federal government to establish a responsive, comprehensive, scientific strategy to help those gravely ill from Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. He said he will continue to fight for a larger coordinated effort across several agencies but added that the NIH is among the most important federal agencies for fighting Lyme and this is a giant step in the right direction. Smith is the author of the pending TICK Act (HR 3073), which will develop a whole-of-government National Strategy to prevent and treat Lyme and other vector-borne diseases.Smith's legislation would create a new Office of Oversight and Coordination for Vector-borne Disease in the Department of Health and Human Services coordinating strategies across the entire federal governmentincluding the NIH, and also the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Interior, Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency. In releasing its Strategic Plan for Tickborne Disease Rese… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406165 | <span class ="kicker">Tap Into Belmar/Lake Como News Article</span>'Rep. Smiths Autism Cares Act Becomes Law, Providing $1.8 Billion in Research Funding' | 2019-10-07 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By TAPINTO BELMAR/LAKE COMO STAFF AND OFFICE OF U.S. REP. CHRIS SMITH, FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT October 6, 2019 at 9:15 PM Nearly $2 billion in research funding to help children and adults with autism legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th District) has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. The Autism Cares Act of 2019 will fund critical biomedical autism research, as well as the development of best practices to enhance the lives of persons with autism, said Smith, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) We need answers now and treatment options and interventions that work. Smith said that the new law expands government programs to include older persons with autism who were and are often misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed and overlooked. Specifically, aging out of services is a hurdle every parent or caretaker of a child with autism inevitably faces, Smith said. Children grow up and become adults, and then lose their education and support services. But autism is a lifetime neurological disorder, and young adults with autism continue to need their services, he explained. Between 70,700 and 111,600 children age out' into adulthood each year, creating challenges for education, housing, employment and access to health care, according to the AJ Drexel Autism Center at Drexel University, Philadelphia. The Autism Cares Act recognizes the problem of aging out and ensures that the federal government continues to help hundreds of thousands of young adults with autism and their parents by funding research and support programs, said Smith, whose district represents Belmar and Lake Como. Specifically, the Autism Cares Act of 2019: Authorizes $1.8 billion, including annual funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $296 million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at $23.1 million, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at $50 million. Reauthorizes and expands the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406166 | Smith Speaks at NJ State Association of Pipe Trades Convention in Atlantic City | 2019-10-07 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) addressed leaders and members of the New Jersey State Association of Pipe Trades at the opening day of the association's 2019 convention today in Atlantic City. He was introduced by NJSAPT President Michael Maloney and received a warm welcome by the more than 100 attendees. The following are excerpts of his remarks: Special thanks to President Mike Maloney for his extraordinary leadership, effectiveness and tenacity. No one works harder or more effectively for Local 9and for all the journeymen and apprentices throughout the statethan Mike. For me, the cause of working familiesand the critical importance of unions in the never-ending fight for fair wages and benefits, workplace protections and other important terms of employment achieved through collective bargainingis a core conviction. My father was a teamster and instilled in me the strong belief that without unions working families would be marginalized, divided and exploited. Unions even the playing field and make both the workplace and America itself more just and fairer In March, the House passed legislation authored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro which I co-sponsoredthe Paycheck Fairness Actwhich is designed to provide aid to victims of wage discrimination based on sex; to enhance civil penalties for those who violate equal pay provisions for women; and to combat retaliation. As the economy grows and more jobs are created and retained, the fruits of that expansion must be better pay and benefits. Paid family leave is both humane and right. Like you I am concerned that workplace injury and death are rising including a spike in violence against women. At a minimum, we need more OSHA inspectors. As you know, I strongly support Davis-Bacon; project labor agreements and best value contracting. For over 25 years, I've repeatedly asked federal contracting authorities including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to explain why labor unions have been systematically excluded from contract awardsespecially at military… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406162 | <span class ="kicker">Trentonian article on Smith's new autism law</span>'President Trump signs Rep. Chris Smiths Autism CARES Act into law' | 2019-10-02 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, Trentonian Staff Writer - President Donald Trump advanced bipartisan legislation this week even as the tweeter-in-chief accused the Biden family of being corrupt and hammered congressional Democrats for launching an impeachment inquiry following his controversial phone call with Ukraine's leader. Today, I was proud to sign the Autism CARES Bill! Trump said Monday in a tweet. We support research for Americans with Autism and their families. You are not forgotten, we are fighting for you! Sponsored by GOP Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, the Autism CARES Act of 2019 amends the Public Health Service Act to enhance activities of the National Institutes of Health with respect to research on autism spectrum disorder and bolsters programs relating to autism. The new law, also known as the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2019, received total support from Republicans and Democrats in both legislative chambers, including U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), a fierce Trump administration critic. PHOTO - President Trump holds up Rep. Chris Smith's autism legislation, House of Representatives 1058 (HR 1058),after he signed it into law on Sept. 30, 2019. The signing of this important legislation into law, Menendez said Tuesday in a press statement, ensures the federal government will continue to fund and drive critical research into what causes autism spectrum disorder and the development of innovative treatment and supports to help individuals with ASD reach their full, God-given potential. Smith, as the primary sponsor and author of the original Autism CARES Act in 2014, recently described the 2019 rendition as a comprehensive reauthorization and strengthening of America's whole-of-government autism spectrum disorder initiative. In a July 24 U.S. House speech, Smith said: This bipartisan legislation powerfully supports and pursues durable remedies and effective interventions for the app… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406144 | Asbury Park Press Article on Smith's Autism Law Signed by the President | 2019-10-01 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | ByKeldy Ortiz, Asbury Park Press - TheAutism CARES Act, a bill which was co-sponsored by a New Jersey lawmaker, was signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump. The Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) provides $1.8 billion in funding for autism programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and Health Resources and Services Administration. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-Mercer, and Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. The Autism CARES Act recognizes the problem of aging out and ensures that the federal government continues to help hundreds of thousands of young adults with autism and their parents by funding research and support programs, Smithsaid in a statement."Aging out of services is a hurdle every parent or caretaker of a child with autism inevitably faces. In New Jersey, one in every 34 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, the CDC reported. Smith has worked on issues related toautism since 1997, when parents Bobbie and Billy Gallagher from Brickspoke with him about whether the government was addressing the issue. Individuals with autism and their families are a federal priority, and the Autism CARES Act is a smart investment that will help individuals with autism today and for generations to come, said Suzanne Buchanan, executive director of Autism New Jersey. Their work across the aisle and tireless efforts to retain critical components of the legislation remind us what is right and good about our federal government. Keldy Ortiz is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. This story can be found online in the Gannettt newspapers Asbury Park Press, North Jersey Record and other papers' websites.: https://www.app.com/story/news/new-jersey/2019/09/30/autism-cares-act-signed-into-law/3825728002/ | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406159 | Congressman Smith Congratulates Communications High for National Blue Ribbon School Honor | 2019-10-01 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) congratulated Monmouth County Communications High School in Wall, NJ on being recognized as one of the top-performing schools in the country with a National Blue Ribbon School designation issued by the U.S. Department of Education. I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to Principal Gleason, the students and staff of Communications High School for being named a 2019 National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education, said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) in response to the announcement by the Dept. of Education on Thursday. They are one of only nine schools in New Jersey to receive the coveted Blue Ribbon designation this year. There are few investments we can make in our society that pay higher dividends than the education of our children, and it is an extraordinary distinction that Communications High School was selected for overall academic excellence and progress in demonstrating that all students can achieve at high levels. Across the country, 362 public and private schools have been honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2019 representing U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and military bases. Since 1982, more than 9,000 schools around the country have received the award. Dept. of Education recognizes all schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, student subgroup scores and graduation rates. Exemplary High Performing Schools are chosen from among their state's highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests. Also, Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools are selected among their state's highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school's student groups and all students. In its 37th year, The National Blue Ribbon School award highlights the hard work of students, educators, families, and communities in creating successful schools where students master a challenging curriculum. The National Blue Ribbon School flag displayed at a school is a widely-re… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406160 | Statement by Rep. Chris Smith Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China | 2019-10-01 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | On this day, we honor all those who have sacrificed to advance human rights in China, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo and all those who died 30 years ago during the violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen protests.This is not a day for celebration, but remembrance of the Chinese Communist's Party brutality, its authoritarianism and its efforts to undermine the American economy and society, aided and abetted by some all too eager to makea fast dollar in China. The Communist Party takes credit for China's astonishing economic rise. But the Chinese people could have produced the same results without the Party's leadership and without the bloodshed and tragic loss of millions of lives. On this anniversary, we remember rights defenders and human rights lawyers who face torture, discrimination and detention.We remember the millions of Uyghurs and others forcibly detained in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, actions which may constitute crimes against humanity. We remember all the women in China who were forcibly sterilized or forced to abort their child to further the horrific and misguided One-Child Policy. We remember those who have been punished for simply seeking to practice their religion without fear or restrictionsProtestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims and Falun Gongall have faced unspeakable repression. The increasingly authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party has undermined U.S.-China relations.It has threatened Hong Kong's autonomy as well as labor rights and media freedoms. The deterioration of human rights under Chairman Xi Jinping is a global concern that requires vocal and persistent U.S. leadership.While I believe that freedom is the desire of every human heart, the arc of history does not bend toward justice unless all freedom-loving people take steps to recognize the threat and actively seek to address it. During the 1990s, I presided over a series of hearings about human rights and China's WTO membership.I remember the sage advise of so ma… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406163 | <span class ="kicker">Patch News Article</span>'Major Autism Legislation From Rep. Smith Signed Into Law' | 2019-10-01 | 2019 | 2019-10 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | This past Monday, major autism legislation initially inspired by a Brick family and co-authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was signed into law by President Donald Trump. The bill, called the Autism CARES Act of 2019, authorizes the federal government to spend $1.8 billion over the next five years to help children and adults with autism by funding research, early detection and treatment. Smith, a Republican, co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania. Smith has represented New Jersey's sixth congressional district for decades, and he recalls he first got involved in autism work in September of 1997, when two constituents, Bobbie and Billy Gallagher of Brick, walked into his Ocean County office. The Gallaghers were parents of two young children with autism and they were looking for help. To this day, the couple continues to work with Smith on autism advocacy issues, including the "aging out" problem. A big part of the bill will go to expanding government programs for adults with autism, as an increasing number of people with autism are entering their late 20s and 30s, and phasing out of public schools and other programs. According to Drexel University's AJ Drexel Autism Center, anywhere from 70,000 to 111,000 autistic young adults "age out" into adulthood each year, creating challenges for education, housing, employment and access to health care. It's as simple as its put by Mai Clearly, a Middletown mom who runs a farm for adults with autism, as she told Patch: "Children with autism grow up." The 2014 photo above shows Rep. Smith with Bobbie and Billy Gallagher at the SEARCH Day Program, a school for kids with autism in Ocean Township. "Aging out of services is a hurdle every parent or caretaker of a child with autism inevitably faces," said Rep. Smith. "Children grow up and become adults, and then lose their education and support services. But autism is a lifetime neurological disorder, and young adults with autism continue to need their services. The Autism … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406156 | Autism CARES Act of 2019 Signed into Law | 2019-09-30 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Major autism legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to authorize $1.8 billion over five years to help children and adults with autism by funding research, early detection and treatment was signed into law today by President Trump. Smith said the comprehensive new law, cosponsored by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) will fund critical biomedical autism research as well as the development of best practices to enhance the lives of persons with autism. We need answers now and treatment options and interventions that work, he said. Specifically the Autism CARES Act of 2019: authorizes $1.8 billionincluding annual funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $296 million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at $23.1 million, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at $50 million. reauthorizes and expands the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC); adds new members of IACC from the Departments of Labor, Justice, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development; increases from two to three IACC members who are self-advocates, parents or legal guardians and advocacy/service organizations; empowers the Health and Human Services Secretary to prioritize grants to rural and underserved areas and; requires that not later than two years after enactment, a comprehensive report on the demographic factors associated with the health and well-being of individuals with ASD, recommendations on establishing best practices to ensure interdisciplinary coordination, improvements for health outcomes, community based behavioral support and interventions, nutrition and recreational and social activities, personal safety and more. Smith said that Autism CARES expands government programs to include older persons with autism who wereand areoften misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed and overlooked. According to Drexel University's AJ Drexel Autism Center, about 70,700 to 111,600 children age out into adulthood each year creating challenges for education, housing, employme… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406146 | <span class ="kicker">Smith Tells Volunteers at Walk to Fight Alzheimer's</span>Research Funding at an All-Time High to Find a Cure, or a Disease-Modifying Therapy by 2025 | 2019-09-28 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined more than 900 people gathered today at Point Pleasant Beach for the 2019 Alzheimer's New Jersey Walk to Fight Alzheimer's. The event is expected to raise an estimated $200,000 to fight Alzheimer's disease. Smith, a leader in Congress in the fight against Alzheimer's which afflicts millions of Americans, addressed marchers, family, friends and supporters of loved ones who suffer or have passed away from Alzheimer's. The following are excerpts of Congressman Smith's remarks: Special thanks to President and CEO Kenneth Zaentz, and all the leaders of Alzheimer's New Jersey. Every minute, someone, somewhere in the country is newly afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease. Today there are an estimated 5.8 million people in America coping with Alzheimer's. Unless we research our way to a breakthrough, nearly 14 million will suffer from Alzheimer's disease by 2050. Over twenty years ago (1998) I along with Congressman Ed Markey created the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease to aggressively promote policies to more effectively combat Alzheimer's including robustly fund promising research. I continue to serve as chairman and there are 161 Members of the House are part of the Task Force. After years of legislative struggle, the big breakthrough came in 2011, when we passed the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA)a law I coauthored. NAPA created a new, frequently updated and expanded national strategy with the goal of finding a cure, or a disease-modifying therapy by 2025. The impact has been profound. Alzheimer's research funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was $600 million in 2015. We've quadrupled it to $2.3 billion this year. And within a matter of weeks, we expect to increase it yet again in 2020. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406120 | Reps. Smith, Doggett Introduce Resolution to Recognize September as Hydrocephalus Month | 2019-09-27 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Bipartisan legislation recognizing September as National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month was introduced in the House of Representatives today. Congressman Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pediatric and Adult Hydrocephalus Caucus, along with fellow Co-Chair Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), authored the resolution in support of the nearly one million Americans living everyday with hydrocephalusa life-threatening accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain that currently has no cure. Each year 1 in 770 babies develops hydrocephalus, said Smith. Because there is no cure, children with hydrocephalus grow up' inside of a hospital and undergo multiple brain surgeries as a result failing shunts.We are working together to raise awareness and fight for an increase in federal research and resources so that the medical community can find a solution for these children and their families, Smith said. During Hydrocephalus Awareness Month, we can rededicate ourselves promoting dialogue on hydrocephalus, supporting those pushing forward on research for a cure, and addressing the need to make treatment available and affordable to all patients, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. As Co-Chair of the Congressional Pediatric and Adult Hydrocephalus Caucus, I will continue to use this as a constructive forum to raise awareness of and work to solve the needs of those affected by this condition. The resolution is supported by the two leading associations dedicated to helping families overcome the challenges inherent in hydrocephalus: The Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation and the Hydrocephalus Association. In support of the over one million people living with hydrocephalus in the U.S., we are deeply grateful to Representatives Doggett and Smith for their support of Hydrocephalus Awareness Month. Their leadership both in introducing this resolution and in serving as Co-Chairs of the Congressional Pediatric and Adult Hydrocephalus Caucus demonstrate their commitmen… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406143 | <span class ="kicker">Remarks by Rep. Smith at Seton Hall Human Trafficking Event</span>1 in 4 Trafficking Victims Are Children;The Compelling Need to Educate the Children | 2019-09-27 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | This morning Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) provided opening remarks via video at Seton Hall University's 2019 Forum on Modern Slavery: 21st Century Solutions. Smith, the prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, thanked the participants for their commitment to end this modern day slavery and urged them to continue their good work on behalf of victimswho are mostly women and children. His remarks today can be watched in video below or by clicking here. The following are the text of his remarks: Special thanks to Dean Andrea Bartoli for your tireless work and dedication to eradicating the scourge of human trafficking. Deep thanks as well to all the assembled leadersfor your amazing commitment and effectiveness in this human rights and humanitarian cause. And words are inadequate to thank Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Muradfor her courage, tenacity, resiliency and witness against genocide. She not only heroically overcame unthinkable personal trauma, but she focused world attention and galvanized world opinion on slavery and slaughter by ISIS against the Yazidis. As the prime author of the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018, which provides humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery assistance to victims of genocideespecially Christians and YazidisI truly thank Nadia for her extraordinary work. Twenty years ago at the 1999 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia, I sponsored the first human trafficking resolution designed to encourage over 300 members of congress and parliamentarians from 57 countries to develop policies to prevent trafficking in all of its ugly manifestations; rescue and protect victims; and prosecute, convict and jail the traffickers. A year later the U.S. Congress approved and the President signed legislation that I authoredthe Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000a comprehensive whole-of-government policy to combat these barbaric crimes in the United St… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406140 | Full Committee Passes Smith-McGovern Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act | 2019-09-25 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith's (R-NJ) bipartisan bill, HR 3289, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, was unanimously passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today sending a unified message to the governments of China and Hong Kong that the peaceful protesters of that long-autonomous city have the full support and backing of American lawmakers.Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) along with more than three dozen other cosponsors joined Smith on the bill. At its core, the Smith-McGovern bill directs the Secretary of State to certify to Congress annually whether Hong Kong continues to deserve special treatment under U.S. law different from mainland China in such matters as trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation, and protection of human rights and the rule of law. House leadership has promised to bring Smith's bill to the House Floor for a vote as soon as possible. (PHOTO: Rep. Smith details his Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act at a bipartisan press conference held in the Capitol Building Sept. 19, 2019 with Hong Kong human rights leaders.) Here are excerpts of Smith's remarks at the markup: The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that facilitated the conveyance of Hong Kong from the UK to the PRC beginning July 1, 1997 was absolutely clear that autonomy, human rights including press, assembly, association and religion would be exactly the same as before the handover for at least 50 years. The Basic Law of Hong Kong adopted by China's National People's Congress in 1990 was also clear that autonomy and rights would be protected. i.e. Article 5: The Socialist systems and police shall not be practiced in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous Capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years. Today those promises solemnly undertaken by Beijing have eroded and as stated in the most recent State Department report diminished. As members will recall, the US Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 requires that reportthe last one only covered… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406142 | Statement by Rep. Smith | 2019-09-25 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Statement by Rep. Smith f t # e Washington, Sep 25, 2019 Today Rep. Chris Smith released the following statement: "Today I voted for legislation urging that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community immediately transmit the August 12, 2019 whistleblower complaint to Congress, with the intent that Congress be given the opportunity to fairly evaluate the complaint in a bipartisan mannerconsistent with statutes and processes to guard classified and sensitive information. The original Democrat resolution was partisan and counterproductive. We must have only one objective: providing the American people the truth." f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406134 | Rep. Smith Guest on NJ 101.5 to Talk about Passage of Autism Bill Smith-Doyle | 2019-09-23 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith was a guest on the Bill Spadea morning drive radio show on Sept. 23, 2019 to talk about Senate passage of his bipartisan 'Smith-Doyle' bill on federal autism programs: Congressman Chris Smith, one of the strongest champions of the little guy' in Washington DC, joined me Monday to share his latest victory on your behalf. Since joining the House of Representatives in 1981, Chris Smith has been an advocate for families dealing with Autism. Forty years ago, the numbers in Jersey were approximately 1-3 children diagnosed out of every ten thousand. Today, that number is1 out of every 34. Congressman Smith recently lead the way to passing the fourth bill, which will direct resources to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to directly help families and professionals combat the epidemic. As he explained to me on the show, so much can be accomplished with early detection and diagnoses. You can read the billHERE. President Trump is expected to sign the bill this week. Thanks again to Congressman Smith's leadership. He is my go-to example of why term limits area a bad idea. Term limits are already in place, they're called elections. If you want to limit something in Trenton and DC, vote. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin' Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him@NJ1015or@BillSpadea.The opinions expressed here are solely those of Bill Spadea. Read More:NJ is number one again and it's really bad news| https://nj1015.com/nj-is-number-one-again-and-its-really-bad-news-opinion/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral The above article can be found online at: https://nj1015.com/nj-is-number-one-again-and-its-really-bad-news-opinion/ | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406130 | <span class="kicker">Asbury Park Press Article on Smith-Doyle Passage:'Congress passes $1.8 billion autism bill; seed was planted by Brick parents in 1990s'</span>'As the Autism CARES Act goes to President Trump's desk, sponsor Rep. Chris Smith recalled t | 2019-09-20 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | One day in 1997, two parents from Brick met with Rep. Chris Smith for three hours to discuss a growing but poorly understood health issue. Bobbie and Billy Gallagher were raising two toddlers with autism, and their concerns prompted Smith to examine how the federal government was addressing the disorder. Nothing was being done for autism $287,000 was being spent, recalled Smith, whose Congressional district covers part of Monmouth,Ocean and Mercer counties. That doesn't even buy a desk with a person behind it. In 2014, Bobbie Gallagher of Brick speaks about raising two children with autism. Rep. Chris Smith is in the background.(Photo: Tanya Breen) Times have changed. On Thursday the U.S. Senate unanimously approvedthe Autism CARES Act, sending the $1.8 billion package to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law. RELATED:Millstone teen's autism guide went viral RELATED:Why is autism exploding, and what can be done? Smith was the prime sponsor ofthe House of Representatives' version of the bill, his fourth autism-related measure to pass through Congress since that meeting with the Gallaghers. Fellow New Jerseyan Robert Menendez sponsored the Senate version. The bill will authorize funding for programs at the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control,and the Health Resources and Services Administrationover five years, reauthorizing a similar bill from 2014. It willfund a combination of research, detection and intervention programs, and cover the expansion of autism-related activities. Tim Rohrer, a Millstone teen with autism who has become a sought-after speaker after he published a guide on how to treat people with disabilities.Thomas P. Costello and Jerry Carino, Asbury Park Press We're ecstatic, Smith said. What a difference this is going to make. One stated aim of the legislation is to address the needs of those who have aged out of most available autism services after turning 21. It amends existing lawto reflect the need for research, surveill… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406136 | <span class = kicker>WOBM Radio News</span>'The Autism CARES Act of 2019 gets unanimous approval in the Senate' | 2019-09-20 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Dan Alexander NJ101.5 Staff - The House of Representatives hasapproved a request byNew Jersey U.S. Rep. Chris Smith directing the Department of Defense's Inspector General todetermine whetherthe military experimented with ticks and insects as possible biological weapons between 1950 and 1975. The4thCongressional District representative said he wants to know if such experimentation is connected with the growth of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases in the United States. "With Lyme disease and other tickborne diseases exploding in the United States, with an estimated 300,000 to 427,000 new cases each year and 10 to 20% of all patients suffering from chronic Lyme disease, I believe Americans have a right to know whether any of this is true," Smith said on the House floor last week. If true, what were the parameters of the program? Who ordered it? Was there any accidental release anywhere or at any time of any of the diseased ticks? Were any ticks released by design? In the book, there is some talk of that happening at or near Richmond, Virginia. Can any of this information help current-day researchersand this is most important of allhelp current day researchers find a way to mitigate and maybe even cure these diseases? It should be noted for the record that it was President Richard Nixon in 1969 who ordered the end to all bioweapons research, but we know that there were tick farms at Plum Island and Fort Detrick, like I said earlier, and other places where this research was done. Lyme disease got its name in the 1970s after research of cases near Lyme, Connecticut, but the symptoms related to the illness have been known as far back as colonial times. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics but some people say they continue to suffer long after the disease has been treated. There's disagreement over the diagnosis of "chronic Lyme disease," whichmany in the medical community do not support. The Republican said he was inspired by a number of books and articles suggesting that significant… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406126 | <span class ="kicker">Smith-Doyle Provides $1.8B for NIH, CDC & HRSA autism programs</span>Landmark Autism CARES Act Passes Senate; Heads to White House | 2019-09-19 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The Smith-Doyle Autism CARES Act of 2019, (HR 1058), was approved unanimously by the Senate late this afternoon, following July passage by U.S. House of Representatives. This $1.8 billion, five-year package will fund a whole-of-government approach to helping children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families, Smith said.When enacted the law will authorize autism-related programs at National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $296 million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at $23.1 million, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at $50.6 million annually, he said. Rep. Smith, the prime sponsor of HR 1058, along with chief Democrat co-sponsor, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), singled out Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Ranking Member Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for praise. I would like to thank Chairman Alexander, Ranking Member Murray, and Leader McConnell, for pushing HR 1058 to where we are today: Senate passage, Smith said. The bill now moves on to the White House for the President's signature. Read excerpts from Rep. Smith's floor remarks on House passage here. The Smith-Doyle bill also helps adults with autism who are often misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed and overlooked and emphasizes that causes, diagnosis, detection, prevention and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) must be available throughout the lifespan of a person with autism. According to Drexel University's AJ Drexel Autism Center, about 70,700 to 111,600 children age out into adulthood each year creating challenges for education, housing, employment and access to health care. The problem of aging out' of services is a real hurdle every parent or caretaker of a child with autism inevitably faces, Smith said. All children grow up and become adults, and children with autism then lose their education services. But autism is a lifetime neurological disorder, and adul… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406121 | <span class ="kicker">Speaker Pelosi Vows to Move Smith's Hong Kong Human Rights Bill</span>Smith Bill Focus of Bipartisan Press Conference | 2019-09-18 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined Speaker Pelosi at a bipartisan press conference called today to announce that the House of Representatives will take up Smith's bill, HR 3289, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 to send a clear and unified message to the protesters in Hong Kong that they have the full support and backing of the United States in their quest for justice and freedom. The Speaker promised to bring Smith's bill to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. The bill must first move out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, then on to a full House vote. Foreign Affairs Committee leaders attended the press conference, and said they expected to take up HR 3289 next week. Smith gave the following statement: Since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre thirty years ago, I've had the privilege of working in a bipartisan way with Speaker Pelosi on human rights, the rule of law and democracy for the people of China. We have always believed that every person in China deserves better. And have always understood that solemn promises made by Beijingwere seldom keptand that far too many leaders of the free world were far too eager to blindly accept fiction over fact. Under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution and human trafficking have significantly worsened. During the 2014 Umbrella Movement the world saw the courageous people of Hong Kong demanding that Beijing not renege on promises made to ensure universal suffrage and authentic elections in 2017. Despite Mr. Xi's brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors thenand especially nowthe resolve, courage, tenacity and clarity of purpose of the people of Hong Kong shines through the darkness like the sun. The great young leader Joshua Wong reminded us at yesterday's hearing that a fourth of the population of Hong Kongabout 2 million peopleturned out for one of the peaceful protests. Where has that ever happened? Five years agoin 2014joine… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406122 | <span class ="kicker">Associated Press article on Smith Bill, Hearing</span>'Hong Kong activists appeal to US lawmakers to help movement' | 2019-09-18 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Tami Abdollah | AP - September 17 at 4:23 PM - WASHINGTON Activists involved in the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong appealed to U.S. lawmakers Tuesday to support their fight by banning the export of American police equipment that is used against demonstrators and by more closely monitoring Chinese efforts to undermine civil liberties in the city. The activists, including several young people who have emerged as prominent figures in a leaderless movement, testified before a U.S. government commission set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China. Republicans and Democrats on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China expressed their support Tuesday for protests that began in June with a since-withdrawn bill to extradite people arrested in the semiautonomous Chinese territory to China for prosecution. The heart of the discontent is that Hong Kong's political leaders do not represent and are not accountable to the people. Instead, Hong Kong's leaders are beholden to the Chinese government, said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass. The former British colony has been allowed certain autonomy and freedoms since it was returned to China in 1997 as a territory, with a one country, two systems policy that was supposed to ensure a smooth political transition. Under U.S. law, the territory of Hong Kong receives special treatment in matters of trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation and more. China has benefited from this, and lawmakers believe, used it to evade U.S. export controls and sanctions. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., has authored legislation that places Beijing on annual notice that they will lose Hong Kong's special economic and trade status if its autonomy continues to erode. Smith's bill would also allow qualified Hong Kong residents to work or study in the U.S. even if they have been arrested for participating in nonviolent protests. Earlier this month, Smith, McGovern and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., put forward legislation that would bl… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406107 | <span class="kicker">Smith, China Commission, Witnesses Speak Out on Hong Kong Crisis at Congressional Hearing</span>Hong Kongs Struggle to Stay Free | 2019-09-17 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The inspiring protests in Hong Kong are a daily reminder of the stark differences between free and authoritarian societies, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), at a bipartisan hearing held today by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) on Hong Kong's Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses carried live on CSPAN. Smith is a CECC Commissioner as well as a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The people of Hong Kong have shown us again that a free people will not easily accept the boot of repression without protest, said Smith, author of the bipartisan Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,. The millions of Hong Kong protestors have also done the world a great service. They have exposed Beijing's plans to erode freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong by international treaty. They have exposed Beijing's pernicious and repressive behavior. And make no doubt about it, the Chinese Communist government is both uniquely repressive and incredibly paranoid about maintaining its grip on power. Click here to read Congressman Smith's opening remarks. Smith, as well as CECC chair Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), co-chair Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and other members of the commission, focused on developments in Hong Kong and the future of U.S.-Hong Kong relations in light of the ongoing demonstrations and the escalating tensions caused by police violence and threats by the Chinese government against Hong Kong's autonomy. Testifying in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Hong Kong's political crisis were: Joshua Wong:Secretary-General, Demosist and Umbrella Movement leader; Denise Ho,Pro-democracy Activist and Cantopop singer and actress; Sunny Cheung, spokesperson of the Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD); Sharon Hom, the Executive Director of the Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York, and Dr. Dan Garrett,author of Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China's Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014). … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406108 | <span class ="kicker">Statement by Rep. Chris Smith @ Hong Kong Freedom Hearing</span>Hong Kongs Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy | 2019-09-17 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) gave opening remarks at a hearing of theCongressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)Tuesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The following are excerpts of remarks from Rep. Smith, a commissioner on the CECC: It's been a long, hot, summer in Hong Kong. The inspiring protests there are a daily reminder of the stark differences between free and authoritarian societies. The people of Hong Kong have shown us again that a free people will not easily accept the boot of repression without protest. The millions of Hong Kong protestors have also done the world a great service. They have exposed Beijing's plans to erode freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong by international treaty. They have exposed Beijing's pernicious and repressive behavior. And make no doubt about it, the Chinese Communist government is both uniquely repressive and incredibly paranoid about maintaining its grip on power. There are over a million Uyghurs interned in Orwellian political education camps. Human rights lawyers have disappeared and been horribly tortured in detention. Christians, Tibetans, labor activists, and journalists face egregious abuse and the most intrusive system of surveillance operating the world today. Why would anyone want their political fate determined by Beijing? If given a choice, no one would. As inspiring as the protests have been, they have also raised serious concerns about the actions of the Hong Kong and Chinese Communist governments. The violence and use of force perpetrated against the protestors by thugs and police is extremely alarming. Representative McGovern (D-MA) and I were the first members of Congress to call on the Trump Administration to suspend the sale of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and other crowd control equipment to the Hong Kong Police. Its time to quickly pass the PROTECT Hong Kong Act the Chairman McGovern and I introduced last week. Also alarmingare the repeated and irresponsible threats of intervention made by Chinese … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406137 | <span class ="kicker">APP Editorial on Anti-Semitism, Spec. Envoy Post Created by Smith law</span>'Anti-Semitism: Shame those who need to be shamed' | 2019-09-15 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY RANDY BERGMANN - APP Editor & Columnist In what was a particularly timely appearance, Elan Carr, special U.S. envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism,came to Lakewood Tuesday to talk about growing anti-Semitism and how to combat itin the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. While he talked mostly in broad strokes about the rise ofanti-Semitism throughout the world, locally he singled out the Rise Up Ocean County Facebook page as a scourge and noted with disgusthow some local politicians had used anti-Semitism to advance their election prospects. Carr'stalk, sponsored by Lakewood Neighbors and attended by about 80 people, mostly Orthodox Jews, came close on the heels of an incident in which the car tires of more than 100Lakewood residents wereslashed and a news story about an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group askinga judge to stop Jacksonfrom enforcing ordinances it claims are anti-Semitic. As the head of the Asbury Park Press' Unity Project, which is aimed at improving relations and understanding between the Orthodox Jewish and non-Orthodox communities, I was anxiousto hear Carr's suggestions for dealing with anti-Semitism. Not surprisingly, educating people about the Jewish religion, culture and history, and the imperative of combating the "poison of evil and anti-Semitism" in all its forms wereat the top of Carr'slist. But he also underscoredthe need for people to condemn hateful rhetoric and actions. People give a standing ovation to US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism, Elan Carr, after his presentation at the Lakewood Township. Municipal Building on Sept. 9, 2019.(Photo: Gustavo Martnez Contreras) He spoke ofthe power of resounding consequence for those engaged in hate.We must be unequivocal in communicating that there is no place foritin a civil society. If enough people condemn hateful acts, behavior is likely tochange. Hateful behavior can't allowed to be normalized, he said. Carralso discussed the importance of dealing with the small stuff, such as hateful posts… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406101 | <span class ="kicker">At Annual Alzheimer's Awareness Walk Rep. Smith Tells Marchers:</span> Alzheimers Research Funding at an All-Time High to Find a Cure, or a Disease-Modifying Therapy by 2025 | 2019-09-14 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks made by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at the 2019 Bradley Beach Alzheimer's Walk on Saturday, September 13, 2019: Every 65 seconds someone, somewhere in the country is newly afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease. Today there are an estimated 5.8 million people in America180,000 in New Jersey alonecoping with Alzheimer's. Unless we research our way to a breakthrough, nearly 14 million will suffer from Alzheimer's disease by 2050. This morning, you are not only raising critical funds for Alzheimer's disease research, but you also bring visibility, you mobilize, and you prioritize efforts to mitigate, and someday cure, this catastrophic disease. You also bring hope and a strong sense of solidarity with patients, family, and friends. Over twenty years ago (1998) I along with Congressman Ed Markey created the bipartisan Congressional Alzheimer's Caucus to aggressively promote policies to more effectively combat Alzheimer's including robustly fund promising research. 181 Members of Congress are part of the caucus. After years of legislative struggle, the big breakthrough came in 2011, when we passed the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA)a law I coauthored. NAPA created a new, frequently updated and expanded national strategy with the goal of finding a cure, or a disease-modifying therapy by 2025. NAPA also created an advisory committee for a whole-of-government response to the Alzheimer's crisis. The impact has been profound. Alzheimer's research funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was $600 million in 2015. We've quadrupled it to $2.3 billion this year. Last December the President signed a top priority of the Alzheimer's Association into lawthe BOLDS Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act to establish Alzheimer's Centers of Excellence for more effective interventions and to assist state and local public health departments. One of my bills that passed the HouseKevin and Avonte's Lawto prevent wandering was signed into law as part of the FY 2018 Omnibus App… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406106 | <span class ="kicker">***Congressional Hearing Set for Tues., Sept. 17 ***</span>Hearing on Hong Kongs Struggle to Stay Free | 2019-09-14 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | "Hong Kong's Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses, is the title of a congressional hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to be held Tuesday, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a member of the commission. The hearing will examine recent developments in Hong Kong and the future of U.S.-Hong Kong relations in light of the ongoing demonstrations and the escalating tensions caused by police violence and threats by the Chinese government against Hong Kong's autonomy. Witnesses will provide first-hand testimony about current events in Hong Kong, discuss the Chinese government's role in Hong Kong's political crisis, and offer recommendations for the U.S. Administration and Congress. Smith is also Ranking Member of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee. WHAT: Congressional hearing of the China Commission WHO: Smith, other members of the commission, and witnesses: Joshua Wong:Secretary-General, Demosist and Umbrella Movement Leader Denise Ho:Pro-democracy Activist and Cantopop Singer and Actress Sunny Cheung:Spokesperson,Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD) Sharon Hom:Executive Director,Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York Dan Garrett, PhD:Author,Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China's Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014) WHEN: Tuesday, Sept 17, at 10 a.m. WHERE: Room 419 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406095 | Remembering the Victims of 9/11 | 2019-09-11 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Excerpts from Congressman Smith's remarks from the Special Order commemorating 9/11: Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doingI was here in Washington chairing a Veterans' Affairs Committee hearingwhen a group of cowards hijacked 4 airliners in order to perpetrate the worst act of terrorism in American history. Nearly 700 New Jerseyans lost their lives that day. No-one remembers the shock, horror and numbing sorrow more, however, than the families and close friends of the victims. Because it was a surprise attack, there was no chance to fight back that day although when Todd Beamer and other passengers learned what happened to the Twin Towers, Todd famously said let's roll and they attacked the terrorists on board the flight that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Who can forget the courageous first responders running up the stairs of the burning buildingswith total disregard for their own safetysaving some at the expense of their own lives. On the morning of 9/11, I got a mere glimpseI say again, a mere glimpseinto the sense of horror suffered by the victim's families when I couldn't reach my own brother Toman American Airlines 757 Captain who often piloted Flight 11 from Logan to LA, the flight that crashed into the North Tower. Evacuated from the Capitol and stuck in traffic within sight of the burning Pentagon, cell phones were all but gridlocked. About noon I got through. He and his flight attendant wife Sandy were safe but were in anguish because they knew the pilots and crew on board Flight 11. For 18 years, the families and friends of those who died that day and since have had to endure their loss and a broken heart. Both thenand now eighteen years laterwords are inadequate to convey our empathy for those who died and for the victims' families. For many, their faith in God has helped them survive and overcome. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406096 | <span class ="kicker">Smith bill would provide veterans more recreational opportunities on federal lands</span>Rep. Smith Addresses the Urgent Need to Boost Therapy, Treatments for Veterans | 2019-09-11 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Supporters of Rep. Chris Smith's (R-NJ) bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2435, the Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act, converged on Capitol Hill this week to advocate for the bill, which will provide increased access to federal lands for the purposes of veterans' medical therapy. H.R. 2435 would empower a newly created task force to identify barriers veterans face when accessing public lands for treatment, and provide within one year recommendations to Congress on ways to eliminate those barriers.The legislation would help expose barriers to be overcome and new opportunities to be pursued so that public lands are more available for recreational activities, such as hiking, backpacking, fishing, horseback riding, rafting, and biking, which have proven to advance recuperation and healing. Ultimately HR 2435 will supplement the VA's major medical care programs with outdoor recreational therapy for military veterans. Research has increasingly shown that outdoor recreation can be an effective form of treatment, rehabilitation, and healing for veterans, said Smith, former two-time Veterans Committee Chairman and author of the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act (P.L. 108-422). While many nonprofit organizations, veteran service organizations and private companies have used the outdoors to help heroes heal, providing greater coordination among key agencies will provide new opportunities on public lands and other outdoor spaces. Veterans in attendance at the Washington event hosted by the Sierra Club at the House Rayburn Building, expressed how the outdoors has personally brought healing and how this legislation is key to expanding programs that will save more veterans' lives. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD, between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and 12 percent of those who served in Desert Storm have PTSD in a given year, and 30 percent of those who served in Vietnam will have had P… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406087 | Smith Holds Community Meeting w Point Pleasant Beach Businesses Hurt by Dune Project | 2019-09-10 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Smith Holds Community Meeting w Point Pleasant Beach Businesses Hurt by Dune Project f t # e OCEAN COUNTY, NJ , Sep 10, 2019 Congressman Chris Smith held a community meeting in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ on Monday to discuss the impact of the 22-foot dunes recently built by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) along the commercial areas directly contiguous to the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk. The adjacent boardwalk commercial areas all have a new, lower 18-foot dune built by the Corps. PHOTO SLIDES AT LEFT The Sept. 9 meeting was held at the Arugula Oceanview restaurant on Ocean Avenue, which has seen a 40 percent drop off in business after the USACE project was completed, and it was hosted by the nearby White Sands Hotel, which has also seen a decrease in customers. Attending the meeting were several officials from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (including the NJDEP Assistant Commissioner David Rosenblatt) which is the non-federal partner in the project and which opposes the businesses' requests to lower the dunes to 18 feet. Also in attendance and supportive of the lower beach were NJ State Assemblyman Dave Wolf, representatives of Bradshaw Beach, a commercial company, the Point Pleasant Beach and Surf Club, Mayor Steve Reid, Councilman Paul Kanitra, and other members of the community. The businesses all wanted the same 18-foot dunes the adjacent boardwalk businesses enjoy, and felt they are unfairly disadvantaged by the Corps' higher dunes which obscure the ocean. The Corps brought a contingent from its New York and Philadelphia offices, led by Lt. Col. David C. Park, Commander of the Philadelphia District which includes Ocean County, NJ, and his superior officer, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Milhorn,Commander and Division Engineer for the USACE's… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406094 | <span class ="kicker">Reps. McGovern, Smith, Khanna Introduce the bipartisan PROTECT Hong Kong Act</span>Bill Would Prohibit Commercial Export of Tear Gas and Other Nonlethal Crowd Control Items to the Hong Kong Police Force. | 2019-09-10 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Today, Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, along with Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), introduced H.R. 4270, the PROTECT Hong Kong Act a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives to prohibit commercial exports of certain nonlethal crowd control items and defense articles and services to the Hong Kong Police Force. I am deeply concerned that American-made police equipment is being used to violently crack down on peaceful protesters in Hong Kong, said Representative McGovern. America ought to recognize the human rights and dignity of all people, and that means we ought not to allow American companies to sell this equipment to foreign governments when we see evidence that it is being used for immoral and unjust purposes. Hong Kong police are targeting their own citizens who are guilty of nothing more than peacefully protesting government threats to their freedoms and liberties, Representative Smith said. Peaceful demonstrations are not riots; it is unacceptable to use violence against non-violent protestors. Until such a time when it becomes clear that American products are not being used to repress the free people of Hong Kong, Congress must stop the flow of these exports to the government of Hong Kong. This legislation does that. America stands for democracy, human rights, and peace everywhere, said Representative Khanna. If American companies are supplying the very weapons being used against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, the United States Congress is obliged to step in and act. No American company should be profiting off of anti-democratic, violent tactics abroad. Journalists and Hong Kong citizens have provided credible evidence showing that the Hong Kong Police Force has used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, batons, and other crowd control equipment against peaceful protesters in violation of manufacturer guidelines and international standards. In at least some instances, U.S.-made crowd control equipment w… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406086 | Chinas Aggression toward Hong Kong Shows Its Time to Pass the Hong Kong Democracy Act | 2019-09-05 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Representative Chris Smith, Co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) and the prime sponsor of the bipartisan and bicameral Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, issued the following statement about the demonstrations in Hong Kong and the escalating threats by the Chinese Communist government against Hong Kong: If the Hong Kong government is truly backing off its confrontational extradition effortsand we hope this is for realthen we might be at the start of lasting relief. But that one decision is not enough. Hong Kong needs to do more to secure free elections, democratic institutions and autonomy. My legislation, the bipartisanHong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HR 3289),with its reinforcing mechanisms, including sanctions for those who commit human rights abuses and work to gut Hong Kong's autonomy, sends a strong message of support to the freedom loving people of Hong Kong who are threatened by Beijing's crackdown, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of the House bill. This summer's inspiring protests in Hong Kong are a daily reminder of the stark differences between free and authoritarian societies. Congress must pass the bill as soon as we return in September and show the world that we stand united with the people of Hong Kong who are rightly seeking to maintain the autonomy and fundamental freedoms promised them by the Chinese Communist Party. It is unclear whether Carrie Lam and her government will be trusted by the Hong Kong people to address the root causes of the demonstrations. Over the last 13 weeks, the demonstrations have become about the future of Hong Kong's freedoms & autonomy. Addressing these grievances will take more than a withdrawn extradition bill. The root of the Hong Kong people's dissatisfaction is the shrinking of its open society and political breathing space. These are the things that must be recognized and addressed for trust and the One Country, Two Systems model to be restored. The violence and use of force perpetrated… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406084 | <span class ="kicker">Asbury Park Press article on local pioneer honored by Smith law</span>'Belmar post office renamed after Walter McAfee, who helped get us to the moon' | 2019-09-02 | 2019 | 2019-09 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY SUSANNE CERVENKA, APP STAFF WRITER -Walter S. McAfeedreamed of getting his doctorate, but hisphysics department chairman suggested he take industrial arts instead. After all, that would be more beneficial considering it was likelyMcAfee would teach in a black college in the South, McAfee told the Asbury Park Press in a 1982interview, recalling the conversation he had had when he was pursuing his master's degree at Ohio State University in the 1930s. Walter S. McAfee(Photo: U.S. Army) McAfee did teach, but never let go of his dreams. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell Universityin 1949three years after his mathematical calculations helpeda team of scientists at Camp Evans in Wall bounce the first radio signalsoff the moon's surface. That effort, known as Project Diana, marked the start of the Space Age and was a precursor to space exploration, satellite communications and missile guidance systems. His perseverance and successes over a four-decade long career as a U.S. Army astrophysicist and mathematicianwere lauded once again as the U.S. Postal Office at 1300 Main St. in Belmar was renamed in his honor:Dr. Walter S. McAfee Post Office Building. The latest accolades for the renowned scientist and educator comes just days before what would have been his 105th birthday on Labor Day. McAfee, who lived in Lake Como, then named South Belmar, died in 1995. Walter S. McAfee unveils a sign with the then-commander of Fort Monmouth.(Photo: US Army) McAfee's youngest daughter, Marsha McAfee Bera-Morris, said it was a special honor to have her father's name on the post office, a central public location, in the community where he raised his family and practiced the science that advanced space exploration. "This moment provides a singular pride and satisfaction for so many of his family and friends and colleagues," she said in her speech at the renaming ceremony. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., pushed for the federal legislation to honor McAfee, which Congress approved in August 2017. More:Bell … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406076 | <span class="kicker">***Includes slide show*** Rep. Chris Smith, USPS, Dignitaries Honor Life of Local Scientist</span>Belmar Post Office Renamed to Honor Brilliant, Local Scientist Dr. Walter McAfee | 2019-08-31 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | More than 200 people gathered outside the U.S. Post Office located on Main Street in Belmar Friday at a ceremony to rename the building in honor of Dr. Walter S. McAfee, a brilliant mathematician who spent several decades working at Camp Evans and Fort Monmouth on critical scientific and national security projects. Dr. McAfee's breakthrough research and mathematical theories led to bouncing radio signals off the moon's surface.His unique work served as the forerunner for satellite communications, entry into the space age, moonshots and moonwalks; his many innovations included high-tech sensors that helped the military keep tabs on aggressive actors and thus save the lives of many Americans and our allies, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who wrote the legislation(Public Law 115-151) to rename the facility in honor of Dr. McAfee and his inspirational story. The late Dr. McAfeewould have turned 105 on Monday, Sept. 2. As an African-American, Dr. McAfee overcame adversity and prejudice with courage, tenacity and faith. His amazing life inspires. He challenges us to strive for excellence. He is truly a role model, Smith told the crowd.Click here to read excerpts of Congressman Smith's remarks. Attending the event were many family members, friends and coworkers of Dr. McAfee's, including his sister, Velma McAfee-Williams, who turned 90 last week and his daughters Marsha McAfee Bera-Morris and Diane Mercedes McAfee. Bera-Morris shared her own perspective of her father's love of astrophysics with the gathering. I can remember him waking me up, along with my sister Dianeat our request (a request that he probably encouraged)to see meteor showers or lunar eclipses. Space physics was one of his true loves, she said. Bera-Morris also spoke of her father's tenacious drive to overcome racial challenges, pursue higher education and master subject matter before him, as well as the honor she and her family felt regarding the renaming of the Belmar post office. To have his name here in this Post Office, a central public build… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406058 | <span class="kicker">'A battle he can't give up' - APP article on NJ 'Left Behind dad Smith is trying to help...</span>'Manalapan dad fighting to get abducted son back from India' | 2019-08-20 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY APP WRITER JERRY CARINO - Reyansh Parmar's favorite things are stacked in a corner of his bedroom. There's his Finn McMissile pillow from the movie Cars 2. There's a big red teddy bear. There is the plastic kitchenette he played withevery day, cooking daddy invisible meals. But Reyansh isn't there anymore. He hasn't been home in seven years, since his mother took him to India and refused to come back. He's 10 now, and father Ravi Parmar has been fighting a lonely, desperate battle to reunite with his son. I would not wish it on anybody, including my son's mother, who did this, the 41-year-oldsaid last weekat his Manalapan home. You feel helpless, but I can't give up on my son. I have to keep fighting for him, because nobody else is. Ravi Parmar holds a poster showing his son Reyansh after a news conference in Red Bank Thursday, August 8, 2019, where the 5th anniversary of the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act was marked. His son Reyansh was taken by his mother to India.(Photo: Thomas P. Costello) International child abduction remains an unchecked problem five years after the passage of the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Act. Named after the Monmouth County son and father who were reunited in 2009 after the child was taken to Brazil by his mother and kept there staying with her family after she subsequently diedthe law authorizes the U.S. State Department to sanction nations that harbor abducting parents. India is one of those nations. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who played a central role in reuniting the Goldmans, said there are seven documented cases involving New Jersey kids being abducted to India by a parent. But as Smith and others have lamented, the federal law is not being vigorously enforced. So Ravi Parmar is fighting alone, even though he, ex-wife Dimple Parmar and young Reyansh are U.S. citizens. Even though a New Jersey court granted Ravi full custody and ordered the child to be returned home. Even though a family court in Ind… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406057 | <span class="kicker">APP news article cites Smith's Lyme disease effort</span>'Lyme disease as war weapon? Inside New Jersey representative's push for probe' | 2019-08-15 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Susanne Cervenka,USA TODAYAugust 14, 2019 Peoplesuffering fromLyme disease could be closerto knowing whether the chronic illness impacting an estimated 300,000 or more peoplestarted off as a U.S. biological weapon. U.S Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey hopes that knowledge could lead not only to accountability, but also a potential cure and greater recognition of thedisease. "My hope is, this jump-starts a very aggressive effort to find a cure and see how this (Lyme disease) is growing. It's pushing out into the Great Lakes area. It's exploding everywhere," said Smith, a longtime advocate for Lyme disease research. His district is one of the hotbeds for the disease. The House of Representatives added a Smith amendment to a federal defense spending bill that would require the Department of Defense's Inspector General to investigate whether the military, between 1950 and 1975, experimented with ticks and other insects to be used as biological weapons. US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) opens a panel discussion about Lyme disease research held at the Wall Township Municipal building Wednesday, May 29, 2019. Investigators will report back to the House and Senate Armed Services committees with the scope of any experiment it finds, including whetherany ticks or insects were released into the environment, either by accident or on purpose. The amendment was approved by voice vote. Now the House bill has to be reconciled with a Senate bill that does not include Smith's amendment. Smith is working with senators to ensure the investigation survives the process. Lyme disease on the rise:What to do if you get a tick bite More in tick:Ever have a tick? This Kentucky man got one in his eye Smith's push for the federal investigation began after reading "Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons," by Stanford University-based science writer Kris Newby. A longstanding theory is that Lyme disease was a Soviet-era biological weapon created in a U.S. government research center on Plum Island an… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406054 | <span class ="kicker">**Includes Slide show**NJTV segment on Goldman Act</span>'Reunited father and son help congressman mark anniversary of anti-abduction law' | 2019-08-13 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY NJTV REPORTER LEAH MISHKIN David Goldman remembers driving his then wife and 4-year-old son, Sean, to the airport for a what she said would be a vacation in Brazil. It was five years before he saw him again. The story of how hard it was for David to get authorities to force his former partner to allow him to reunite with Sean was the inspiration for the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act, signed into law five years ago today. Father and son were on hand Thursday to mark the milestone at a press conference in the office of Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, an early champion who introduced the legislation giving families tools to fight their cases internationally, allowing the United States to impose sanctions on countries with a proven pattern of non-compliance. They retold their story a first for Sean, now 19 making the case for how important the law is and how it needs to rigorously enforced. Three days after that trip to the airport, on Father's Day, David found out what was really happening. I received a phone call from my then wife that our love affair was over, he recalled. And she decided to remain in Brazil with Sean and if I ever wanted to see him again I couldn't go to the law to say there was a kidnapping or go to the judge or do anything type of legal proceeding against her except fly to Brazil, sign 10 pages of legal documents, essentially meeting all demands and giving 100 percent of my rights as his father away. Otherwise I would never see him again. Sean talked about the impact of the separation on him. When a child is brought over to another country and they're very young, the other parent is going to be telling the child a lot of bad things about the parent they're not in contact with that's going to skew their perception, he said. David said he sought help every way possible to finally get a Brazilian court order to return Sean in 2009 with an attorney in Brazil, from the government, Congress, the media and with rallies. I took this picture… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406056 | <span class="kicker">Philadelphia News Article on House passage of Smith's Lyme disease amendment</span>'New Jersey congressman wants to know if military used Lyme disease-ridden ticks as 'bioweapons'' | 2019-08-13 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY BAILEY KING, PHILLY VOICE STAFF Did the U.S. military unleash Lyme disease on the American people throughbiological weaponexperiments? A New Jersey congressman wants to know, claiming evidence linksthe disease tobioweapons researchresearch, according to Military.comreport. Medical and military experts are skeptical ofU.S. Rep. Chris Smith's concerns, playing it off as a conspiracy theory. Smith, a congressmen in the Fourth District of New Jersey,has asked the Pentagon to investigate the possibility. "Ticks and Lyme Disease would be a very strange choice as a deliberate bioweapon because ticks are difficult to work with, don't have wings, and Lyme would hardly be a force reducer," entomology professor at Montana State University, Robert Peterson, explains to Military.com. RELATED READ:The top 3 methods for removing ticks from skin An amendment to the House version of the Fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act written by Smith requires theInspector General of the Department ofDefenseto investigate whether military experiments used ticks and other insects as biological weapons between 1950 and 1975. In congressional testimony, Smith said: "With Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases exploding in theUnited States, with an estimated 300,000 to 427,000 new cases each yearand 10 to 20 percent of all patients suffering from chronic Lymedisease, I believe Americans have a right to know whether any of thisis true. "If true, what were the parameters of the program?Who ordered it?Was there any accidental release anywhere or at any time of any ofthe diseased ticks?Were any ticks released by design?" Credits/Tick: Scott Bauer via Wikimedia; book: HarperCollins A New Jersey congressman has asked the Pentagon to investigate whether the U.S. military used infected ticks as part of biological weapons experiments, citing evidence contained in a book titled, "Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons," by … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406055 | <span class="kicker">WOBM article focuses on 5th Anniversary of Smith's Goldman Act</span>'Fight against international child abductions grows stronger' | 2019-08-12 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY WOBM REPORTER VIN EBENAU - Jersey Shore Republican Congressman Chris Smith (Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer) continues to affect direct change in the battle against international child abductions. Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the landmark Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act(P.L. 113-150). CongressmanSmith was joined by David and Sean Goldman of Monmouth County, the father and son who were reunited after a five-year abduction to Brazil, their attorney Patricia Apy, an international family law attorney at Paras, Apy and Reiss and Ravi Parmar, of Manalapan, the father of a child abducted to India in 2012 and founder of Bring Our Kids Home (BOK Home). Today, we mark and recognize the significant progress achieved over the five years since passageall inspired by Sean and Davidincluding a dramatic decline in the number of new cases of parental child abduction and the resolution of many others, Smith said. He authored the Goldman Act to help brokenhearted left behind parents like David and Ravi, who along with their abducted children are victims of the cruel act of international parental child abduction, by pressuring foreign nations to facilitate the return of American children. According to the U.S. Department of State, there has been a continuing, consistent decrease in the number of abductions from a high of 1,512 in 2008 to 698 abductions in 2018,"Smith said. The Annual Report coupled with the Action Report on International Child Abduction required by the Goldman Act also provides American judges with accurate user-friendly information in country-specific charts allowing judges to assess country risks in the cases they adjudicate. Much progress has been made, Smith said. However, much remains to be doneutilizing all the tools including serious sanctions against offending countries that are embedded into the Goldman Act need to be robustly applied. Countries with egregious records of noncompliance including Japan need to be held accountable. Davi… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406051 | <span class ="kicker">APP Article on 5th Anniversary of Smith's Goldman Act</span>'Sean Goldman, 10 years after reunion with dad, fights for other abducted kids' | 2019-08-09 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Asbury Park Press Writer Jerry Carino - Sean Goldman likes to go fishing and paddleboarding with his dad, and they go out for sushi together regularly. The 19-year-old Holmdel resident isheading into his sophomore year at Brookdale Community College and holds a job as a dock hand at Sandy Hook Bay Marina. Sean is living a typical teenagelife, with anotable exception: He's become an advocate for victims of international child abduction an ordeal he endured and one that sparked a law bearing his name. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Sean's return to his father, David, a high-profile reunion followingfive years of legal wrangling after he waskidnapped by his mother and sequestered with her family in Brazil. This week marks the fifth anniversary of thesigning of the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Act, which gives the U.S. state department authority to pressure nations, like Brazil, that harbor abducted kids. On the 5th Anniversary of the signing of the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act, Sean Goldman looks to his father David during a news conference in Red Bank Thursday, August 8, 2019. (Photo: Thomas P. Costello) On the 5th Anniversary of its signing, David Goldman is joined by his son Sean as he holds a copy of the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act during a news conference in Red Bank Thursday, August 8, 2019. (Photo: Thomas P. Costello) To mark the law's anniversary, Sean spoke publicly for the first time Thursday. His father was by his side as were two others instrumental in resolving his case: Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.,and Red Bank-based attorney Patricia Apy, whose firm Paras Apy & Reiss hosted the news conference. I'm thinking about a political science major," Sean said, "because, well, I guess you guys can guess why." More: NJ unauthorized immigrant mom got kids back from Brazil, and US helped More:America's lost children, kidnapped abroad … | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406047 | <span class ="kicker">The fight to bring home American children unlawfully held abroad goes on with the Goldman Act</span>Goldman Act to Combat Intl Child Abduction Hits Five-Year Milestone | 2019-08-08 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | At a press conference marking the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the landmark Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act(P.L. 113-150), U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was joined by David and Sean Goldman of Monmouth County, the father and son reunited after a five-year abduction to Brazil; their attorney Patricia Apy, an international family law attorney at Paras, Apy and Reiss, and; Ravi Parmar, of Manalapan, NJ, father of a child abducted to India in 2012 and founder of Bring Abducted Children Home (BACHome). Today, we mark and recognize the significant progress achieved over the five years since passageall inspired by Sean and Davidincluding a dramatic decline in the number of new cases of parental child abduction and the resolution of many others, said Smith, who authored the Goldman Act to help brokenhearted left behind parents like David and Raviwho along with their abducted children are victims of the cruel act of international parental child abductionby pressuring foreign nations to facilitate the return of American children. According to the U.S. Department of State, there has been a continuing, consistent decrease in the number of abductions from a high of 1,512 in 2008 to 698 abductions in 2018. Smith said the Annual Report coupled with the Action Report on International Child Abduction required by the Goldman Act also provides American judges with accurate user-friendly information in country-specific charts allowing judges to assess country risks in the cases they adjudicate. Much progress has been made, Smith said. However, much remains to be doneutilizing all the tools including serious sanctions against offending countries that are embedded into the Goldman Act need to be robustly applied. Countries with egregious records of noncompliance including Japan need to be held accountable. Click here to read his opening remarks. David has remained active in the fight against international child abductions, including testifying at four of Smith's congressional hearing… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406052 | <span class ="kicker">ABC- 7 NY Story on Smith's Goldman Act</span>'Sean Goldman marks anniversary of law to help fight international child abductions' | 2019-08-08 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | NEW YORK (WABC) -- Sean Goldman was just a boy when he captured the nation's attention.His mother took him from New Jersey to Brazil and said they were never coming home. It took years and multiple court rulings for his father to finally get Sean back. Sean is now in college and on Thursday he marked the anniversary of a law in his name that helps fight international child abductions."It took me a week and a half after coming home to call him Dad," said Goldman, recalling the time when he was reunited with his father after five years apart. His mother had kidnapped him to Brazil and when she died, Brazil allowed his stepfather to raise him. "It's just a very confusing time for a kid coming through borders from different countries, completely different cultures," said Sean. "It's like your whole world gets flipped upside down." But Sean's father David Goldman, who is from Tinton Falls, fought for years to get him back. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was instrumental in that reunion. "This picture, I took it, was just a couple of hours, maybe not even an hour and a half, after they were reunited," said Smith. The congressman introduced the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act. The law helps American parents get their abducted children back, sometimes through the threat of sanctions or flight restrictions. That law is five years old now, and making an impact. "There has been a continuing, consistent decrease in the number of abductions from a high of 1,512 in 2008 to 698 abductions in 2018, still far too many," said Smith. Ravi Parmar of Manalapan is fighting to bring his 10-year-old home from India. "A lot of times these things are treated as domestic issues and these are truly not domestic in the sense that once the child has even crossed the state borders, forget about national borders but even state borders, there is very little you can do to bring the child back," said Parmar.Meanwhile, the Goldmans continue to fight for people like him, while they enjoy their time toge… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406043 | Rep. Chris Smith on El Paso and Dayton | 2019-08-04 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | Rep. Chris Smith on El Paso and Dayton f t # e HAMILTON, NJ, Aug 4, 2019 Words are inadequate to convey my profound sadness and empathy to the grieving families and friends over the loss of their loved ones in El Paso and Daytonand deep gratitude to law enforcement for their selfless heroism. Comprehensive background checks and an assault weapons ban are likely to make people safer and ought to be enacted by Congress. But regrettably, something is radically broken in the hearts, minds, and souls of these mass murderers. And they are not alone. The culture of violence and its glorification is consuming our society and begs a major correction and serious intervention by everyone of good willincluding families, schools, public officials at every level, community leaders, the media, Hollywood, and religious leaders of every faith and creed. f t # e | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406053 | <span class ="kicker">APP Article on Bill Named after Braeden</span>'How do I talk about the worst day of my life?' Mother of NJ football player mourning one year after his death | 2019-08-04 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | By Stephen Edelman APP Writer - I never knew Braeden Bradforth, but I wish I had. And as I stood on Pop Warner field where his football career began, exactly one year after his life tragically ended nearly 2,000 miles away, I felt an incredibly strong connection to the gentle giant, having chronicled this relentless crusade for answers and accountability locally, and the inexplicable inaction by a Kansas junior college. I couldn't help but wonder what Braeden would have thought about the scene late Thursday afternoon. Family and friends, coaches and teammates, gathered to both celebrate his legacy on the anniversary of hispassing due to exertional heatstroke at Garden City Community College, and insure this never happens to another community. Joanne Atkins-Inram (mother) and Adara Davis (cousin) speak at Braeden Bradforth's memorial service. Braeden died of heat stroke following a football practice at Garden City (Kan.) Community College on Aug. 1, 2018.(Photo: Brian Johnston) His mom, Joanne Atkins-Ingram, surrounded by hundreds of supporters who have followed her in the quest for justice, cried for the 366th straight day. Her tenacious lawyer, Jill Greene, made it clear that the fight continues in his name.Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said he is proposing a new lawthat seeks to protect athletes from heatstroke as a way of honoring Braeden'smemory. And Tarig Holman, his old coach at Neptune High School, spoke passionately about a kid with a big appetite, and an even bigger dream. More:'My whole community lost my son': Mother wants answers for NJ football player death More:NJ football player death: House delegation in Washington demands independent investigation Joanne Atkins-Inram's son, Braeden Bradforth, died of heat stroke following a football practice at Garden City (Kan.) Community College on Aug. 1, 2018.(Photo: Brian Johnston) "It's so bittersweet,"Atkins-Ingram told me. "Exactly one year ago I was in the same building sitting at the same desk looking at the same phone th… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406040 | <span class ="kicker">Bill would create a commission to review heat stroke exertion risk to student athletes</span>Smith Introduces Legislation Named after NJ's Braeden Bradforth | 2019-08-02 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | On Friday, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a bill named in honor Braeden Bradforth, a college football player from Smith's district who died a year ago this week from exertional heat stroke after a football practice. The legislation, Braeden's CommissionProtect our Athletes from Exertional Heat Stroke, HR 4145, would establish a commission to conduct a study on exertional heat stroke among student athletes at educational institutions across the country to study best practices for prevention, recognition and treatment of exertional heat stroke, and develop recommendations for the purpose of reducing fatalities from exertional heat stroke among student athletes. Death from exertional heat stroke is preventable, Smith said. When any athlete suffers from it, well-researched protocols exist that require prompt action to mitigate its impact, including death. Click here to read a copy of the bill. PICTURED:Congressman Smith meets with some of the 200 friends, family members and supporters of Braeden's mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram, who all came out for the Aug. 1 2019 memorial in Neptune, NJ. At left is Robert Ingram, Braeden's step-father, and Jill Greene, Joanne's attorney. Braeden had the highest hopes of advancing his football career at Garden City Community College and ultimately, playing in the NFL, said Smith at a memorial held last night in Braeden's home town in Neptune, NJ, noting that exertional heat stroke ended that dream. For months Braeden's momJoannewas left to speculate as to how and why her beloved son lost his life. Bryce lost his brother, Sean lost a son, and Robert lost his step-son. What was done and whenor notduring this crisis remains unknown to this day. Bradforth, a 19 year-old from Neptune, NJ, received a scholarship in July of 2018 to play football at GCCC. On August 1, 2018, his second day on campus, he collapsed after evening football practice and was found unresponsive. After being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, he passed away just hours later due to exertional he… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406041 | Smith Named as Human Trafficking Lead for Int'l Parliament Organization | 2019-08-02 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE-PA) has again named Congressman Smith as the OSCE-PA Special Representative on Human Trafficking. In July, Smith's resolution Educating Schoolchildren to Avoid Human Trafficking was unanimously adopted by the OSCE-PA. He has authored five major trafficking laws in the U.S., including the law that created a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to combating human trafficking in the U.S. and around the world. The law, which also mandates the State Department to rate every country in the world's efforts to fight trafficking, has been successfully used to prosecute thousands of trafficking cases in the United States, including Jeff Epstein. Smith was first appointed to the post in 2004. Smith is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and is Ranking Member of its Global Human Rights and International Organization Subcommittee. Following are excerpts of his remarks during debate in the Third General Committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Luxembourg, July 2019: Twenty years ago at the 1999 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia, I sponsored the first human trafficking supplementary resolution designed to encourage all participating states to develop policies to prevent trafficking in all of its ugly manifestations; rescue and protect victims; and prosecute, convict and jail the traffickers. A year later the US Congress approved and the President signed legislation that I authoredthe Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000a comprehensive whole-of-government policy to combat these barbaric crimes in the United States and around the world. Pursuant to that law, on June 20th, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo released the 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reporta global analysis and ranking of every country including my own. As the Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on Human Trafficking, I've offered 20 resolutions over the years which the PA approve… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406038 | <span class ="kicker">Remarks by Rep. Smith, legislation unveiled</span>Honoring Braeden Bradforth | 2019-08-01 | 2019 | 2019-08 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at thePop Warner Football Field, in Neptune, N.J. on August. 1, 2019 marking one year since the death of Braeden Bradforth: As we all know, Braeden had the highest hopes of advancing his football career at Garden City Community College and ultimately, playing in the NFL. But one year ago today exertional heat stroke ended that beautiful dream. For months Braeden's momJoannewas left to speculate as to how and why her beloved son lost his life. Bryce lost his brother, Sean lost a son, and Robert lost his step-son. What was done and whenor notduring this crisis remains unknown to this day. For months, college officials provided almost no meaningful answers. It was absurdand wrong. PICTURED PHOTOS ABOVE: File photos, including from Braeden's mother's attorney office in April 2019 and news reports. Joanne, however, and her good friend and tenacious lawyer Jill Greene of Avonand all of uspressed hard for an external, thorough and independent investigation. More than nine months later, in mid-May, college officials finally agreed. A couple of weeks later, Dr. Rod Walters was named to lead the investigation. Dr. Walter's brings extensive experience both in sports medicine and in conducting investigations to this taskincluding the investigation of football player Jordan McNair's 2018 death at the University of Maryland. Death from exertional heat stroke is preventable. When any athlete suffers from it, well-researched protocols exist that require prompt action to mitigate its impact, including death. PICTURED: Congressman Smith meets with some of the 200 friends, family members and supporters of Braeden's mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram, who came out at the Aug. 1 memorial in Neptune. Yet according to the 2018 National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury, since 1995 there have been 64 exertional heat stroke deaths in the sport of football alone underscoring the compelling ne… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | ||
| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406021 | <span class ="kicker">Statement by Lantos Commission Co-Chairman Chris Smith</span>The Goldman Act at Five Years | 2019-07-25 | 2019 | 2019-07 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | The following are excerpts of opening remarks by Rep. Chris Smith, co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the hearing "The Goldman Act at Five Years," convened onJuly 25, 2019: The commission will come to order. I want to thank all of youespecially all of the left- behind parents I see in the audience, such as Ravi Parmar from Bring Our Kids Homefor joining us this afternoon. Today's hearing will examine the efficacy of the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act at the five year mark today is actually five years to the day when Congress passed this landmark bill. It also is quite fitting that this hearing is held at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, as the very first hearing on international parental child abduction was held by the Commission back in December 2009. My colleague and Commission co-chairman Jim McGovern was there, as was one of our witnesses, Patricia Apy. Every year, approximately 450 American children are unlawfully removed from their homes by one of their parents and taken across international borders. The victims of international parental child abduction include not only children denied the love and attention of one of their parents, but also parents cut off from the children they love. If there is good news to be had, it is that when we had our first hearing on implementation of the Goldman Act in March of 2015, some 1000 American children a year were being victimized. We have seen since then what appears to be a consistent downward reduction in the number of children being kidnapped each year, at least to some parts of the world. One reason I think that we have seen a reduction is because of the annual report which the State Department files on parental child abduction. One of the objectives of the report is to alert family court judges about which countries are high risk in terms of failure to return abducted children, notwithstanding the fact that a country may have ratified the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Int… | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |
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