Mr. SMITH of New Jersey: Mr. Speaker, over the past forty-two years, much has changed in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people are a little richer, but still have few rights. The Vietnamese Communist Party has opened up a bit to the outside world, but remains closed to democratic reforms and the rule of law. U.S.-Vietnamese relations have warmed because Vietnam fears China’s increasing economic power and its incursions in the South China Sea, but we see few human rights improvements emerge from better ... Read more

Tomorrow, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, will be leading a Congressional delegation (CODEL) mission to war-torn South Sudan and Uganda. There, he will conduct a multi-day human rights mission into U.S. efforts to address the famine in South Sudan, caused primarily by armed conflict, and to evaluate what more can be done to help the victims. The conflict, which began in December of 2013, has led more than a million refugees to flee into neighboring countri... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), released the following statement on the murder of 26 civilians in Egypt: “My prayers are with the friends and families of the 28 Christian pilgrims—women and children among them—who were gunned down today in cold blood on their way to an ancient monastery in Egypt. “Terrorists target all peace-loving people; however they make no effort to hide their concerted attempts to purge the Middle East of Christians and other religious minorities. In claiming responsibility for t... Read more

The Robbinsville Township Fire Department was awarded a grant in the amount of $22,740 from the Department of Homeland Security through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, announced Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) today. “The grant will be used to purchase four defibrillators and one CPR device, surely among the most live-saving of equipment that a firefighter can bring to bear in an emergency response,” Smith said. “The grant covers 95 percent of the total cost of the equipment,... Read more

Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced several key pieces of legislation with the support of Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), a senior member on the Committee and chair of the House panel that oversees global health and human rights. One of bills to advance, H. Res. 354, condemns the violence against peaceful protesters outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence on May 16, 2017 and calls on the United States to take further steps to strengthen freedoms for the press in countries such as Tu... Read more

Representative Chris Smith held a hearing today on the “silent human rights crisis” in Vietnam urging President Trump to condition better U.S.-Vietnam relations on “concrete, verifiable and irreversible” human rights improvements. President Trump meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at the White House. At the hearing Smith also released a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to prioritize religious freedom in Vietnam because of the gov... Read more

National Missing Children’ Day, established by President Reagan in 1983 and marked every May 25th since, encourages the nation to remember children who have gone missing and work to help parents, guardians, caregivers an organizations dedicated to the well-being of children. To that end, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today announced that they will be reintroducing legislation designed to protect children with developmental disabilities, such as autism, who are p... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), former Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, delivered the following statement on the House floor: Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to express my strong support for the significant package of the veteran’s bills that we considered in the House both yesterday and today. As the former Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee (2001 through 2005), I am acutely aware of the challenges our veterans face, especially as they transition f... Read more

Next Thursday, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House panel on global human rights, will be chairing a hearing entitled “Vietnam: Why Religious Freedom and Human Rights are Critical to U.S. National Interests.” The hearing will provide insight on the current human rights situation in Vietnam and serve as an additional pillar of information prior to the visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. “The Vietnamese Communist government severely restricts religious freedom and the ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House panel on human rights, delivered the following address on the House Floor: Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, lawyer Xie Yang was tortured for the better part of two years because he dared to represent China’s poor and persecuted. The account of his detention is both harrowing and horrible. Xie Yang was sleep deprived and kept in isolation. Squads of police punched and kicked him for hours at a time. He was forced to sit still for hours on a pre... Read more