Today, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) announced the winners of this year’s New Jersey Fourth Congressional District Congressional App Challenge, part of a nationwide competition for middle and high school students to showcase their software app-developing skills and teamwork. “I am pleased to congratulate Communications High School students Vaughn Battista of Tinton Falls, Michael Cielecki of Spring Lake Heights, Jack Hester of Oceanport and Colin Martin of Red Bank for their first place-winning... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today enthusiastically welcomed today’s release of Xiyue Wang, a Princeton, NJ graduate student who was taken hostage by the Iranian government while working on an Iranian government-approved research project. “In April of 2018, I met Hua Qu, wife of Princeton University grad student Xiyue Wang—who until this week was unjustly incarcerated in Iran’s infamous Evin prison,” said Smith. “Many who heard her appeal for her husband’s release—and witnessed her remarkable love fo... Read more

The following are the remarks of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) after President Trump's signing of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which Smith first introduced in 2014: “The enactment of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act—which was expected and greatly welcomed—makes it abundantly clear that the Trump Administration, the United States Congress, and the American people stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. “Xi Jining should understand that the US is not kidding about ... Read more

The following are remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) during debate on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 20, 2019: Since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre thirty years ago, I’ve had the privilege of working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle—including and especially Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Frank Wolf—on human rights, the rule of law and democracy for the people of China. We have always believed that every person i... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) helped manage debate and final passage today of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act— which he had introduced in every Congress since 2014—while on the streets of Hong Kong students demonstrated amid escalating threats by the Chinese Communist government against Hong Kong’s residents. “Today, Hong Kong is burning. The status quo is no longer—the brutal government crackdown on democracy activists has escalated. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human r... Read more

Joanne Atkins-Ingram, mother of Braeden Bradforth, with U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at her side along with her friend and attorney Jill Greene, spoke at a press conference today about the newly released independent investigation into the death of her son—a Neptune, NJ resident and student who died of exertional heat stroke after football practice at Garden City Community College (GCCC) in Kansas in August 2018. At some points holding back tears yet always showing a steely resolve, Braeden’s mom... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said today that, “the report summarizing the independent investigation into the death of Braeden Bradforth is utterly heartbreaking in that it confirms that Braeden’s death was 100 percent preventable. “The investigator found that ‘a striking lack of leadership’ by Garden City Community College officials ‘set off a series of events that ended with the death of Braeden Bradforth.’ I can only imagine how difficult this is for Braeden’s mom, Joanne, to read; yet it is exactl... Read more

The independent report on the death of Braeden Bradforth, a 19-year-old student athlete from Neptune, NJ who died after football practice on Aug. 1, 2018 at Garden City Community College (GCCC) in Kansas, was released by GCCC this week. It was completed on Oct. 28, 2019 by Rod Waters, a Consultant in Sports Medicine. To view a copy of the released report, click here. ### Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and other members of Congress this week marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 7, and the 100-year mark of the birth of the Bolshevik Revolution on Nov. 9. “When I was elected to Congress, the extremely dark cloud of communism hung over the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and many places in Latin America and Asia," said Smith. "Every communist country was a significant threat to peace and security. Communist governments victimized their own... Read more

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed a bipartisan resolution, H.Res. 649, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the committee, and Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade, commending the Inter-American Foundation for its 50-year effort to improve the economic and social development of countries in the Western Hemisphere. “IAF prizes community-led projects and small-scale ent... Read more