News | U.S. Representative

Lomell with his wife and children, circa 1965

Press Release

Lomell awarded Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and Legion of HonorHouse passes bill to name Toms River VA Clinic after local hero, Second Lieutenant Leonard G. “Bud” Lomell
July 21, 2025

Today, the U. S. House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation to name the new Toms River Veterans Clinic in honor of Second Lieutenant Leonard G. “Bud” Lomell, a World War II hero and longtime Toms River resident. Click here for Smith’s full remarks. H. R. 2170, “To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Toms River, New Jersey, the Leonard G. 'Bud' Lomell, VA Clinic, and for other purposes,” formally recognizes and memorializes Lomell’s heroic mi... More

Press Release

Ocean Star article on safety improvements Smith helped land‘New fencing to go up along Point Pleasant canal'
July 19, 2025

by Tommy Watters The Point Pleasant Canal will be getting a $3 million fence safety facelift. After a series of meetings with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over two years, the agency announced plans to repair and replace old safety fencing along the entire perimeter of the Point Pleasant Canal in the borough, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4) announced on June 11. The canal first opened to navigation in 1926, and is a roughly two-mile-long, man-made channel that connects the Barnegat Bay and the M... More

Press Release

Continues fight to block CCP threats in the U.S.Smith condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s appalling acts of Transnational Repression
July 18, 2025
At a widely attended human rights forum on Capitol Hill this week, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, underscored the severity and intensity of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s campaigns to suppress and silence the voices of dissidents and other pro-democracy advocates, including those who escaped to the United States. Click here for Smith’s full remarks. The “Safeguarding Freed... More

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Smith hearing takes aim at Pakistani human rights violations… Witnesses detail widespread political oppression in Pakistan
July 16, 2025
Alarming accounts of growing repression at the hands of the government of Pakistan, targeting political opposition figures, independent journalists, and the blocking of free and fair elections in Pakistan were the focuses of a bipartisan congressional hearing chaired Tuesday by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. “Life in Pakistan today is marked by rampant government violations of basic freedoms, particularly freedom of speech and media freedom... More

Press Release

Smith unveils bill to secure critical research fundingTICK Act reintroduced in the House
July 16, 2025
New legislation to reauthorize the nation’s federal efforts to fight Lyme disease was announced yesterday on Capitol Hill. Known as the TICK Act, the bill authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) with lead sponsors Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-NJ) and Paul Tonko (D-NY), will provide continued funding for Lyme disease research at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Senator Susan Collins is the author of this legislation in the US Senate. “Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are e... More