Fox and Friends hosts Jedediah Bila and Pete Hegseth discussed the Lyme weaponization investigation amendment written by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and recently passed by the House of Representatives in July. Author Kris Newby, Stanford Medical School science writer and author of the recent book "Bitten," was a guest on the show. Smith's amendment was unanimously attached to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act in a voice vote. The Smith amendment directs the Inspector General (IG) of... Read more

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation to powerfully support and aggressively pursue durable remedies and effective interventions for the 1.5 million children with autism was approved unanimously today by the U.S. House of Representatives. Authored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), with chief Democrat cosponsor, Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-14), The Autism CARES Act of 2019 provides slightly more than $1.8 billion over five years “for America’s whole-of-government Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) initiative” lead by... Read more

“The Goldman Act at Five Years,” is the title of a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to be chaired Thursday by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). Smith authored The Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (P.L. 113-150), which was passed by Congress exactly five years ago and nearly 10 years after Smith’s constituent, David Goldman of New Jersey, was reunited with his son Sean after a five-year parental abduction to Brazil. “This hearing will ta... Read more

Posted Jul 15, 2019 2:46 PM John M. Donnelly The House quietly voted last week to require the Pentagon inspector general to tell Congress whether the department experimented with weaponizing disease-carrying insects and whether they were released into the public realm — either accidentally or on purpose. The unusual proposal took the form of an amendment that was adopted by voice vote July 11 during House debate on the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill, which lawmakers passed the following... Read more

By Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press - Published 5:00 a.m. ET July 16, 2019 People suffering with Lyme disease could be closer to knowing whether the chronic illness impacting an estimated 300,000 or more people started off as a U.S. biological weapon. U.S. Rep Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, hopes that knowledge could lead not only to accountability but also a potential cure and greater recognition of the disease. "My hope is, this jump starts a very aggressive effort to find a cure and see how th... Read more

Bringing home American children who are abducted to foreign countries was the topic of a congressional hearing chaired Thursday by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) with U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary Carl C. Risch, international child abduction expert Patricia Apy, and devastated ‘left behind’ mother Ruchika Abbi testifying before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. “The Goldman Act specifically lists increasingly escalating actions, from a demarche – or a protest through diplomatic... Read more

The full House of Representatives passed an amendment offered by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) which directs the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Defense to investigate the “possible involvement of DOD biowarfare labs in the weaponization of Lyme disease in ticks and other insects” from 1950-1975. According to Smith, he was “inspired to write the amendment”—now part of the House-passed 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—by “a number of books and articles suggesting that signifi... Read more

An international parliamentary assembly of leading lawmakers from 54 countries today unanimously adopted an anti-human trafficking initiative authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) to further protect children by teaching them about the risks of human trafficking. Smith offered his “Educating Schoolchildren to Avoid Human Trafficking” resolution at the 28th Annual Session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCEPA) held in Luxemburg July 4-... Read more

Charitable donations dipped in 2018 because fewer people could deduct their charitable donations due to changes in the income tax laws. Organizations like The Tax Policy Center predicted that would start happening when the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act kicked in. The law, by design, makes it more beneficial for filers to take the standard deduction, which has nearly doubled, and skip the convoluted Schedule A to itemize deductions. A report released Tuesday by the 2019 Giving USA Foundation quan... Read more

In the span of just six days, the House of Representatives adopted two separate amendments authored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) to increase funding to combat Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. One Smith amendment, approved in the 2020 defense budget (Division C of H.R. 2740), adds $2 million to the DOD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) for Tick-Borne Disease Research. The program is currently funded at $5 million. “Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne diseas... Read more