The following are excerpts of opening remarks by Rep. Chris Smith, co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the hearing "The Goldman Act at Five Years," convened on July 25, 2019: The commission will come to order. I want to thank all of you—especially all of the left- behind parents I see in the audience, such as Ravi Parmar from Bring Our Kids Home—for joining us this afternoon. Today’s hearing will examine the efficacy of the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention a... Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Federal help for the 1.5 million children on the autistic spectrum received a boost Wednesday when the U.S. House voted to spend $1.8 billion on programs over the next three years. The legislation, approved by voice vote, renews federal programs for a disease that affects 1 in 34 In New Jersey children, the highest rate in the country. The bill “powerfully supports and pursues durable remedies and effective interventions” for children with aut... Read more

By WOBM News Reporter Vin Ebenau - Bipartisan legislation to support and pursue remedies and interventions for the 1.5-million children with autism has been approved unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives. The Autism Cares Act of 2019, co-authored by Jersey Shore Congressman Chris Smith (R) and chief Democrat cosponsor, Rep. Mike Doyle (PA), helps adults with autism who are misdiagnosed, under-diagnosed and overlooked. The bill emphasizes that causes, diagnoses, detection, prevention a... Read more

Fox and Friends hosts Jedediah Bila and Pete Hegseth discussed the Lyme weaponization investigation amendment written by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and recently passed by the House of Representatives in July. Author Kris Newby, Stanford Medical School science writer and author of the recent book "Bitten," was a guest on the show. Smith's amendment was unanimously attached to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act in a voice vote. The Smith amendment directs the Inspector General (IG) of... Read more

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation to powerfully support and aggressively pursue durable remedies and effective interventions for the 1.5 million children with autism was approved unanimously today by the U.S. House of Representatives. Authored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), with chief Democrat cosponsor, Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-14), The Autism CARES Act of 2019 provides slightly more than $1.8 billion over five years “for America’s whole-of-government Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) initiative” lead by... Read more

“The Goldman Act at Five Years,” is the title of a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to be chaired Thursday by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). Smith authored The Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (P.L. 113-150), which was passed by Congress exactly five years ago and nearly 10 years after Smith’s constituent, David Goldman of New Jersey, was reunited with his son Sean after a five-year parental abduction to Brazil. “This hearing will ta... Read more

Posted Jul 15, 2019 2:46 PM John M. Donnelly The House quietly voted last week to require the Pentagon inspector general to tell Congress whether the department experimented with weaponizing disease-carrying insects and whether they were released into the public realm — either accidentally or on purpose. The unusual proposal took the form of an amendment that was adopted by voice vote July 11 during House debate on the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill, which lawmakers passed the following... Read more

By Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press - Published 5:00 a.m. ET July 16, 2019 People suffering with Lyme disease could be closer to knowing whether the chronic illness impacting an estimated 300,000 or more people started off as a U.S. biological weapon. U.S. Rep Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, hopes that knowledge could lead not only to accountability but also a potential cure and greater recognition of the disease. "My hope is, this jump starts a very aggressive effort to find a cure and see how th... Read more

Bringing home American children who are abducted to foreign countries was the topic of a congressional hearing chaired Thursday by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) with U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary Carl C. Risch, international child abduction expert Patricia Apy, and devastated ‘left behind’ mother Ruchika Abbi testifying before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. “The Goldman Act specifically lists increasingly escalating actions, from a demarche – or a protest through diplomatic... Read more

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