By Elizabeth Myers TAPinto Editor - Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-4) announced Tuesday that more than $1.2 million in emergency federal funding has been awarded to local housing authorities in central jersey. The federal funding comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to expand public housing and help these buildings meet sterilization standards needed to protect residents from COVID-19 (coronavirus). “Housing authorities have incurred significant, unanticipated e... Read more

More than $1.2 million in emergency federal funding has been awarded to local housing authorities in the Fourth Congressional District to expand public housing opportunities and to help local housing facilities meet sterilization standards needed to protect residents during the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said today. The back-to-back funding comes from two separate programs both boosted by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which Smith supported las... Read more

Today, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) spoke about the rising threat of human trafficking during the COVID-19 outbreak in his address to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in Warsaw, Poland, in his position as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Human Trafficking Issues. The following are excerpts of his remarks: Special thanks to all the distinguished international participants—especially ... Read more

By Jean Mikle, Asbury Park Press Plans to build a new, expanded veterans clinic in Ocean County have hit yet another roadblock. A notification on the federal Business Opportunities web site said the process to award a bid for the lease of an expanded clinic — along with plans to select a site has been canceled. That means the VA will have to re-do the entire bidding and site selection process, a lengthy procedure that could take many months. This marks the second time the VA has restarted the pr... Read more

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times The coronavirus crisis hasn’t derailed Rep. Chris Smith — he’s written six bills while Congress has been on a virus-induced recess, including a demand that airlines refund unused tickets and a trend-setting bill to punish China for mismanaging the virus. Rep. Joe Neguse, also a prolific legislator, has written nine bills ranging from swatting price gougers to mandating that businesses pay their front-line essential workers a 25% hazard pay boost, with the ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), responding to a notice he received Friday about yet another delay in the replacement of the Brick Veterans Clinic, made an immediate and direct appeal to Robert Wilkie, Secretary of the Department Veterans Affairs (VA). Smith fired off a letter requesting to meet with the VA to discuss—and resolve—the long-delayed construction of a new clinic for Ocean County. In a letter to Secretary Wilkie, Smith asked for a meeting to discuss “the extraordinarily disappointing announc... Read more

While much of the world’s intelligence forces are focused on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, human trafficking victims are at risk of being overlooked, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told a European security organization this week. “Traffickers are not shut down—they haven’t gone on a holiday,” Rep. Smith warned in an April 27 webinar speech to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE-PA). “Victims still need to be rescued. Survivors still need assista... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (P.L. 114-381), today released the following statement in response to the April 28 launch of the 21st annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the state of religious liberty around the world: “I commend USCIRF for taking on the worst violators of religious freedom around the world, and for issuing a ha... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) released the following remarks today on the 45th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon for the Black April Memorial Event sponsored by Viet Tan of North America, TNT Media, and Democracy for Vietnam Association (watch the video here): Forty-five years ago, the city of Saigon fell, and along with it the hopes of Vietnamese, Americans and allies who had endured over 20 years of fighting a grueling communist insurgency financed by the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Un... Read more

More federal funding to combat opioid and other addictions is on its way to Monmouth and Ocean counties and it could not come at a more critical time, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) who represents several towns in Monmouth and Ocean. “This grant funding comes at a crucial time for people who are recovering from addictions or facing mental illness in the Ocean and Monmouth County areas,” said Smith. “The isolation that can come with social distancing, quarantining and the closing of many me... Read more