By Jim Lonergan Published July 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM JERSEY SHORE — Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) has secured a $1 million federal earmark to help restore Silver Lake in Belmar, one of several critical coastal lakes and waterways stretching from Belmar through Brielle—including Spring Lake, Lake Como, and Wreck Pond—that are vital to local ecosystems and flood management. The funding, included in the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, is set for a final House vote in September. If appr... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), joined Rep. Tom Tiffany and Rep. Andy Ogles in urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te when the leader of the democratic nation transits through New York and Texas later this year. In a letter led by Congressman Tiffany, the three lawmakers said that “Taiwan has become a vibrant, multi-party democracy, while Communist China has become more oppressive, more ... Read more

“Would it be better to have the people who entered the U.S. illegally and ‘have a nexus to a transnational criminal organization or criminal drug activity’ just walking around our streets and threatening the well-being of our young people,” asked Rep. Chris Smith after a comprehensive briefing from the Department of Defense (DOD) regarding plans for detention and removal of alien detainees, which may include Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL). “Or is it better that they be in a secure loc... Read more

By Jean Mikle Asbury Park Press staff TOMS RIVER -- The Veterans Administration clinic here is one step closer to being named for a hometown hero. The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill July 21 to name the Hooper Avenue clinic after the late Leonard G. "Bud" Lomell, an Army veteran who was one of the most highly decorated combat soldiers of World War II. Lomell, then a staff sergeant, is best known for leading a group of Army Rangers up the steep cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D... Read more

A House bill would honor Leonard G. "Bud" Lomell, the highly decorated hero during the D-Day invasion at Normandy, by putting his name on the VA Clinic in Toms River. (Karen Wall/Patch) By Karen Wall Patch Staff WASHINGTON, DC — When ground was broken for the new Veterans Affairs health clinic in Toms River in May 2022, former Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill made a plea, asking the congressional delegation to name the clinic for the town's World War II hero, Leonard G. "Bud" Lomell. On Monday, th... Read more

The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith, Co-Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, at the commission’s July 23, 2025 hearing on Taiwan and CCP transnational repression, with witnesses Fan Yun, Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, USN (Ret.), Peter Mattis, and Audrye Wong: "In 1999, two People’s Liberation Army colonels, Colonel Qiao and Wang, published a book entitled Unrestricted Warfare. It is a fascinating book, and one which sees everything short of kinetic as ... Read more

Tomorrow, July 23rd, the co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) will hold their first public hearing on the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) increased acts of political warfare and repression against Taiwan. WHAT: Congressional hearing on the PRC’s acts of political warfare and repression against Taiwan and its supporters WHEN: Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. WITNESSES: Fan Yun, Member of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, USN (Ret.... Read more

Comprehensive anti-human trafficking legislation was unanimously approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and will now head to the House Floor for a vote, where it is expected to receive widespread bipartisan support. Introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act of 2025 (H. R. 1144) was named in honor of Frederick Douglass, a famed abolitionist and outspoken critic of slavery. It is only fitting that legislation designed ... Read more

As we approach the somber 2-year mark since the unjust imprisonment of Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu by the government of Azerbaijan, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a leading American human rights lawmaker, renewed the call for securing Ibadoghlu’s release and for the U. S. to sanction the individuals involved in the ongoing medical abuses against Ibadoghlu, a world-renowned economist, former New Jersey resident and now political prisoner. As an economist, Dr. Ibadoghlu’s scholarship has included research on t... Read more

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... Read more