By Christianity Daily Published April 30, 2026 at 4:34 EDT Co-chaired by Smith and McGovern; testimony from Tara Oh and Suzanne Scholte highlights restrictions on information flow into North Korea and limits on defector-led activities The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan human rights body under the U.S. Congress, held a hearing on North Korean human rights at 12:30 p.m. on the 28th at the Rayburn House Office Building near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., focusing on the imp... Read more

By Voice of America, Mandarin Service Published April 30, 2026 “I don’t understand why anyone in the world would want to emulate Xi Jinping,” said U.S. Representative Chris Smith, a Republican, on April 28 during a hearing on human rights in North Korea, criticizing the South Korean government’s alleged abandonment of human rights. He stated that immediate action was needed, “otherwise we will hand South Korea over to the Communist Party—and that would be extremely disastrous.” The hearing, host... Read more

By Jeanne Wall Published April 30, 2026 at 3:02 AM WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), founder and co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus and author of five comprehensive autism laws, earlier this month, welcomed advocates from across the country to Capitol Hill as part of ongoing efforts to advance autism research and support services. The visit took place during Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, a time when communities nationwide focus on increasing understanding of autism s... Read more

By Kim Eun-joong Published April 29, 2026 The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan human rights organization within the U.S. Congress, held a North Korean human rights hearing on the 28th after several years. At the hearing, titled “North Korean Human Rights Movement: Current Prospects and Obstacles,” Republican Congressman Chris Smith, the commission’s chairman, stated, “North Korea is one of the most oppressive regimes in the world” and criticized it for operating a “horrifying sys... Read more

By Elise Winland Published April 29, 2026 Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic, said April 28 that the North Korean human rights movement is facing increasing pressure from both inside North Korea and from recent policy shifts in South Korea. Speaking at an April 28 hearing dedicated to the prospects and challenges facing North Korea’s human rights movement, Smith described the regime as “what may well be the most comprehensively repressive government in the world.” He cited the... Read more

By Raymond Wolfe Published Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - 10:43 AM EDT WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously backed a group of faith-based pregnancy centers suing New Jersey for trying to force them to turn over massive amounts of donor information and confidential internal documents. The justices ruled that First Choice Women’s Resource Centers could challenge in federal court New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s subpoena demanding 28 categories of d... Read more

By Frank Fang Published April 25, 2026 A group of lawmakers expressed solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners on April 25, the 27th anniversary of a peaceful protest in China whose effects still reverberate today. The peaceful gathering, now known as the April 25 appeal, took place in 1999. It was one of the largest protests in communist China’s recent history, as about 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Beijing, seeking to secure the release of detained adherents and the right to prac... Read more

By Gabrielle M. Etzel Published April 24, 2026 at 6:00am ET A coalition of anti-abortion legislators is calling for an end to human embryonic stem cell research at the National Institutes of Health, reviving a debate on the ethical use of aborted fetal materials in research after nearly two decades of inaction on the controversy. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), along with 16 other House members and five other senators, sent a letter on Friday to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattac... Read more

By Virginia Grace McKinnon Published April 24, 2026 Congress is putting parties aside to extend the bipartisan protection and prevention of human trafficking in the United States. The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act has been stalled in the House since February 2025. But Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Rep. Kwesi Mfume, D-Md., are now calling for more education to prevent human trafficking, increased funding to support victims, and stronger guard... Read more

By Jim Lonergan Published April 24, 2026 at 12:41 PM SPRING LAKE, NJ - As Spring Lake and Belmar continue their legal battle with Verizon over wireless infrastructure, a controversial federal bill that could have further limited local control has been pulled from consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives—marking a temporary win for communities pushing back against expanding telecom development. The bill, H.R. 2289 — the American Broadband Deployment Act, was designed to accelerate the r... Read more