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

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

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) said today the awarding of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant to Lakewood Airport is another solid step to modernize the Lakewood Township facility. Recent infrastructure improvements to the airport have helped enhance air operations, leading to a shortage in aircraft tie-down apron spots and hangar space. The airport, which first foresaw the need following a study more than a decade ago, has been hard-pressed to meet the need of both locally-based and ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission along with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), today held a bipartisan hearing on the perilous state of religious freedom for Christians in China, Nigeria, Iran and other places around the world. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, head of the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, led the witness panels, followed by the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious F... Read more

Co-Chairmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) will hold a hearing of The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Thursday, June 27 on the violations of the right to freedom of religion inflicted upon minority Christian populations around the world. The deadly Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka in April 2019 underscored the vulnerability of the Christian population in that country. Indeed, in many parts of the world, Christians are a vulnerable minority targeted for their faith. The Chri... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today announced that beach replenishment contractor Weeks Marine will return to Point Pleasant Beach, perhaps as early as this week, and pump additional sand in sections that experienced significant erosion during severe May weather. “The Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) informed me that it negotiated a $3.6 million contract modification to get the dredges back to Point Pleasant Beach,” said Smith. “This is the largest contract of its kind in the history of the U.S. Army C... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, welcomed today’s release of the State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report. “The State Department’s annual report on religious freedom is critical for the shaping of U.S. policy and priorities,” said Smith, author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, which gave the State Department expanded authority an... Read more

The author of America’s landmark human trafficking law, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), called the 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released today by the Trump Administration “honest, tough, comprehensive—a game-changer.” Each year, pursuant to Smith’s law—the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 (P.L. 106-386)—the State Department assesses every country’s record on sex and labor trafficking, and focuses on prevention of trafficking, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffi... Read more

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation named to honor Samantha Josephson—a senior at the University of South Carolina who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by a man pretending to be her Uber driver—was introduced in both the House and Senate today to establish needed protections for ride-share customers across the country. Named Sami’s Law, the bill, authored by Republican Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) with lead Democratic cosponsor, Rep. Tom Suozzi (NY-03) in the House, HR 3262, and led in the Senate b... Read more