Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Africa subcommittee and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, made the following statement on news that the government of the Republic of South Africa was reneging on its prior agreement with Taiwan regarding the island nation’s representative office in South Africa: “The South Africa government’s recently announced deadline forcing Taiwan (Republic of China) to move its de facto embassy out of the capital city of... Read more

The White House today notified Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) that the Trump Administration, through its Department of Interior, has cancelled three scheduled public hearings for the Vineyard Mid-Atlantic project off the coast of New Jersey. This news comes in direct response to Smith’s January 29th letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) asking why the Bureau was proceeding with public hearings despite President Trump’s January 20th Executive Order pausing the offshore wind appro... Read more

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) today cancelled its fourth offshore wind solicitation, a development Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) called “good news, especially on the heels of Shell Energy’s announcement last week that the company is withdrawing from the Atlantic Shores wind project off the coast of New Jersey. “The BPU’s cancellation is a sign that they have finally understood the undeniable facts. Industrializing our oceans is completely untenable, widely rejected by the public, and... Read more

In a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) this week, Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) asked why BOEM is moving forward with the approval process for planned offshore wind projects despite President Trump’s January 20th Executive Order calling for a pause and comprehensive review of the full offshore wind approval process. BOEM announced on January 15th that they will begin preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a key piece of the Federal offshore wind approval proces... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today welcomed news that Shell Energy, a British company, has announced its withdrawal from the Atlantic Shores wind project off the coast of New Jersey, taking an almost $1 billion write-off (loss) in the process. “Just like Orsted, Shell has determined that despite huge taxpayer subsidies and discussions of massive increases to ratepayers, they will still lose money,” said Smith. “This is now another domino to fall, exposing the gross negligence throughout the offshore ... Read more

—U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Chair of its Africa Subcommittee released the following statement on recent violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): “The recent escalation of violence in the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has led to a humanitarian catastrophe displacing more than a million people, is poised to spiral into an even broader, cross-border war involving multiple actors. “DRC Preside... Read more

U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and author of the Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act, responded to the fraudulent election held yesterday in Belarus. “’Europe’s last dictator,’ Alexander Lukashenko, has done it again –another farcical proclamation of bogus election victory,” said Smith, who also co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. “It’s a sham. “The U.S. government and Congress must continue to support the brave men... Read more

Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and John Moolenaar (R-MI) today released a letter today asking the Kennedy Center about upcoming performances of the National Ballet of China (NBC). The Representatives detailed the NBC’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party and the fact that “art is a political instrument in the People’s Republic China [and] used for the purpose of disseminating propaganda abroad.” The signed letter to the Kennedy Center is attached. The Representatives said that their q... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith enthusiastically welcomed President Donald Trump’s new executive order re-implementing his precedent-setting Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Policy. “Without this protection in place, NGOs receiving U.S. government funds promote and perform abortion throughout the world with massive subsidies from the United States, said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “By redirecting taxpayer dollars away from the abortion industry... Read more

Today Rep. Chris Smith thanked President Donald Trump for his pardon of peaceful pro-life activists who had been pursued with a vengeance and imprisoned by the Biden Administration. “At the behest of progressive activists, the Biden Administration blatantly weaponized the power of federal law enforcement against peaceful pro-life advocates because their beliefs conflicted with President Biden’s radical abortion agenda,” said Rep. Chris Smith, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “I am ... Read more