Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation to provide $150 million over five years in continued funding for Lyme disease research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sending the bill to President Trump’s desk for his signature. The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act (S. 2398)—sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)—is the identical Senate companion legislation to Rep. Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) HR 4348, which passed the House in late Jul... Read more

Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy Lai, testifies in front of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) at their September 16th hearing, entitled “A Son and Daughter’s Appeal to Xi Jinping to Release Their Dad, Jimmy Lai.” At today’s Capitol Hill hearing chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), lawmakers examined the unjust imprisonment of Jimmy Lai—a well-known free-speech advocate and the publisher of the pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily—by Hong Kong officials, as well as what his case r... Read more

By Pedro Rodriguez Published September 16, 2026 A top congressional panel on Wednesday examined the imprisonment of Chinese media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and the state of press freedom and judicial independence in China. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing, titled “A Son and Daughter’s Appeal to Xi Jinping to Release Their Dad, Jimmy Lai,” comes a week before the Chinese Communist Party leader’s visit to the United States. The hearing featured testimony from Sebastien Lai, the... Read more

By Kate Scanlon Published 2:43 PM September 16, 2026 WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House in late September, and advocates for Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai said Trump should push for his release from prison during the summit. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic, who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, held a hearing... Read more

Tonight, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, hosted a Special Order on the House floor to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayer dollars from funding abortion, both directly and through federal health plans. Rep. Smith’s remarks are provided below: Fifty years ago—on September 30th, 1976—Congress first enacted an amendment offered by the late, great Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois to prohibit federal Medicaid funds ... Read more

By Tessa Gervasini Published September 16m, 2026 at 5:32 PM ET Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump. In anticipation of Xi’s visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey. “Jimm... Read more

A new report from the U.S. government’s nonpartisan watchdog agency revealed that federal taxpayers subsidized 1,719 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) that covered elective abortions for an estimated 4.4 million individuals this year alone. The report also showed that 683 more abortion-covering QHPs were available through the ACA than when GAO issued a similar brief in 2014. The recent report, compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), was requested by House a... Read more

By Mary Margaret Olohan Published September 15, 2026 WASHINGTON—A nonpartisan federal watchdog on Tuesday revealed that Obamacare subsidizes abortions, upending a longtime Democrat talking point, The Daily Wire can first report. Nearly a third of Affordable Care Act plans cover abortions, the Government Accountability Office found. Of the 6,655 qualified health plans offered on Obamacare exchanges, 1,719 cover “non-excepted abortion services,” meaning elective abortions that are not the result o... Read more

By Rena Rowe Published September 15, 2026 1:32pm ET A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that federal premium tax credits have helped subsidize Affordable Care Act health plans that cover abortions for millions of enrollees this year. The GAO found that 1,719 of the 6,655 ACA plans available nationwide in 2026, or roughly 26%, covered abortions. Those plans covered an estimated 4.4 million people. That is an increase of 683 plans from the number GAO found in a similar rev... Read more

By Kamden Mulder Published September 15, 2026 5:42 PM Twenty-six percent of Obamacare exchange plans cover elective abortions, even as the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for such procedures, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. The Hyde Amendment only allows federal money to be used to pay for abortions under limited circumstances: when the life of the mother is at risk, or when the pregnancy is the product of rape or incest. But the GAO repo... Read more