By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman - Alabama warehouse employees for Amazon. com Inc. aren’t the only workers across America holding elections to potentially form a union. Breaion Grissom, a Hamilton Township resident, said the Lawrence-based Shred-it facility off Whitehead Road has illegally terminated his employment for attempting to organize such an election here. “The day we announced that we had filed for a union election, I was unjustly terminated,” Grissom said last week in a press statement. “Mana... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said: “Our prayers go out to the family, friends and colleagues of Officer William 'Billy' Evans who was killed in the line of duty on Capitol Hill today. The attack at the north barricade—which also injured another officer—is yet another act of brutal, senseless violence and underscores the extraordinary courage and valor of the men and women who serve and protect.” ### Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Rep. Chris Smith spent last week sparring with the state Labor Department over a backlog of unemployment claims. Now he says he hopes the agency’s new procedures will pave he way for thousands of New Jersey residents to get their checks. “With more than 700 unresolved claims from my district alone and thousands across the state, they need to have a more aggressive, responsive system that delivers the full benefits people are entitled to,” said... Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Eight months after a contentious conference call with Gov. Phil Murphy, members of the New Jersey congressional delegation say they’re still being forced to handle complaints from angry constituents about delayed or missing unemployment insurance payments. Several lawmakers or their staff members acknowledged to NJ Advance Media that requests for help continue to pour into their offices, even as call volumes are down from last summer, when ang... Read more

Lawrenceville, N.J. – Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined workers yesterday as they kicked off an election to vote on forming a union at the Shred-It facility on Whitehead Road near the Lawrenceville-Hamilton border. According to Smith, employees are seeking union representation “out of an abundance of concern for health and safety protocols as well as a desire for better wages, pensions and other benefits, that motived them to seek representation by Teamsters Local 469.” Smith met with Shred-It work... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee, spoke at the March 25, 2021 committee markup of his bill, H.R. 1079, to avert massive food shortages and related destabilization in areas of Africa. Smith's bill passed in a unanimous voice vote. The following are excerpts of his remarks: Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you and Ranking Member McCaul for including H.R. 1079, the Desert Locust Control Act in today’s ma... Read more

The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, at the commission's hearing "The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act: Taking Stock," held on Wednesday, March 24, 2021; I’d like to begin thanking Co-chairman McGovern not only for organizing today’s hearing, but for the constant and consistent collaboration over the years with regard to the Global Magnitsky Act, known colloquially as GLOMAG. When I introduced the... Read more

Joe Strupp Asbury Park Press A state policy that had limited how many unemployment claims could be filed by elected officials and other third parties on behalf of residents in need has been changed after complaints from U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development said it was dropping a cap on the number of unemployment claims troubleshooters could file on behalf of constituents, following a Press article about the limit, to which Smith objected. Smith, whose 4... Read more

Below is a preview of Rep. Chris Smith's remarks to the Kalinowski Forum at the Lithuanian Parliament: Remarks by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey Kalinowski Forum at the Lithuanian Parliament—March 22, 2021 Chaired by Foreign Affairs Chairman Zygimantas Pavilionis Special thanks to Chairman Pavilionis for inviting me to the Kalinowski Forum and for your strong defense of human rights in Belarus and elsewhere— including your defense of political prisoners in Cuba and work to end religious persecut... Read more

A newly published, independent analysis on the legislative effectiveness of members of Congress ranks Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) as the most effective Republican lawmaker on healthcare issues in the House of Representatives. The study also shows that Rep. Smith is the second most effective House Republican lawmaker overall. The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL)—a nonpartisan, joint partnership between the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Vanderbilt University—said ... Read more