The decision by the United States Air Force to sequence new KC-46A refueling tankers to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst first, before Travis AFB, is a big win that will protect thousands of New Jersey jobs, so says Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). “Today’s notice that the Air Force has selected JBMDL first, in its sequencing for the delivery of KC-46A Main Operating Base 4, is a big win for the base and a monumental step that will further secure its future and thousands of NJ jobs for decades come,” s...
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Refugee camps in East Africa have swelled to the size of American cities, overflowing with starving children and displaced families and growing by the thousands every day, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), who led a bipartisan congressional delegation (CODEL) mission to war-torn South Sudan and neighboring Uganda. The chairman of the congressional panel that oversees Africa, global health and global human rights issues led the mission to observe U.S. efforts to address the famine in South Suda...
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By Herb Jackson, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT - Eric M. Mellinger was a Marine colonel directing humanitarian relief in the Philippines in 2013 when a delegation from Congress showed up that included Rep. Chris Smith, a 36-year veteran and dean of the New Jersey delegation. “He looks over and he goes, ‘Do you remember me?’ ” Smith, R-Mercer County, recalled last week. “I didn’t remember his face, but I did remember the name.” Mellinger was a high school student from Old Bridge and Smith was serving ...
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By Asbury Park Press Staff Writer Jerry Carino - T.J. Fearon paid a price for serving in the Vietnam War. He was poisoned by Agent Orange and came home with post-traumatic stress disorder. “I’m not a hero,” the Navy man said, “but I did my job.” He documented that job as part of the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, which has been collecting firsthand accounts of war since 2000. While providing his testimony a few years back, Fearon offhandedly told his interviewer, “This will...
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey: Mr. Speaker, over the past forty-two years, much has changed in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people are a little richer, but still have few rights. The Vietnamese Communist Party has opened up a bit to the outside world, but remains closed to democratic reforms and the rule of law. U.S.-Vietnamese relations have warmed because Vietnam fears China’s increasing economic power and its incursions in the South China Sea, but we see few human rights improvements emerge from better ...
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Tomorrow, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, will be leading a Congressional delegation (CODEL) mission to war-torn South Sudan and Uganda. There, he will conduct a multi-day human rights mission into U.S. efforts to address the famine in South Sudan, caused primarily by armed conflict, and to evaluate what more can be done to help the victims. The conflict, which began in December of 2013, has led more than a million refugees to flee into neighboring countri...
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Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), released the following statement on the murder of 26 civilians in Egypt: “My prayers are with the friends and families of the 28 Christian pilgrims—women and children among them—who were gunned down today in cold blood on their way to an ancient monastery in Egypt. “Terrorists target all peace-loving people; however they make no effort to hide their concerted attempts to purge the Middle East of Christians and other religious minorities. In claiming responsibility for t...
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The Robbinsville Township Fire Department was awarded a grant in the amount of $22,740 from the Department of Homeland Security through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, announced Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) today. “The grant will be used to purchase four defibrillators and one CPR device, surely among the most live-saving of equipment that a firefighter can bring to bear in an emergency response,” Smith said. “The grant covers 95 percent of the total cost of the equipment,...
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Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced several key pieces of legislation with the support of Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), a senior member on the Committee and chair of the House panel that oversees global health and human rights. One of bills to advance, H. Res. 354, condemns the violence against peaceful protesters outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence on May 16, 2017 and calls on the United States to take further steps to strengthen freedoms for the press in countries such as Tu...
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Representative Chris Smith held a hearing today on the “silent human rights crisis” in Vietnam urging President Trump to condition better U.S.-Vietnam relations on “concrete, verifiable and irreversible” human rights improvements. President Trump meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at the White House. At the hearing Smith also released a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to prioritize religious freedom in Vietnam because of the gov...
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