Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the Congressman for the family of Braeden Bradforth, will join Braeden’s mother Joanne Atkins-Ingram, her attorney Jill Greene, and Dr. E. Randy Eichner, MD, FACSM, an expert in non-contact related football fatalities, in speaking at a community meeting in Asbury Park, NJ on Thursday. Bradforth, a 19 year-old from Neptune, NJ, received a scholarship in July of 2018 to play football at Garden City Community College in Kansas. On August 1, 2018, his second day on campus, h... Read more

Co-Chairs Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, issued the following statement on news that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been removed from office, following months of peaceful protest which had increasingly been met by a violent government crackdown: “We welcome, with guarded optimism, the news that Sudanese President and longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir has been ousted and call for calm to prevail. We are nonetheles... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today introduced new bipartisan legislation, HR 2122, to help ensure quality workmanship at federal construction projects across the country and to protect the agreed-upon day’s pay for a day’s work for local tradesmen, women and laborers. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) is the chief Democratic cosponsor of Smith’s bill. “Federal law—the Davis-Bacon Act—mandates that prevailing wages are paid to contract workers for a good reason—to ensure accountability and the highest stand... Read more

A Monmouth County mother is looking for answers after her 19-year-old son died of heatstroke while working out for his college football team. Braedon Bradforth died last August while attending Garden City Community College in Kansas. The 6-foot 4-inch, 300-pound lineman previously played football at Neptune High School. “I feel like he literally died trying to please a coach,” says mother Joanne Atkins. Atkins says that her son had to complete 36 50-yard sprints – each in eight seconds. She says... Read more

Jersey Shore Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), appeared in Avon-by-the-Sea on Friday saying that he intends to fight for full transparency and accountability for Braeden’s family after Garden City Community College, the Kansas college where Bradforth died last year on his second day on campus, "stonewalled the family’s request for an independent investigation into his death." Smith was joined at a press conference by Bradforth’s mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram. “From day one, I’ve just been trying to... Read more

NEPTUNE, New Jersey (WABC) -- A mother from New Jersey is still heartbroken and angry months after her son's sudden death on the football field. Braeden Bradforth, 19, collapsed after practice at Garden City Community College in Kansas on Aug. 1, 2018, and died a few hours later -- apparently due to heat stroke. The sudden tragedy has raised a lot of questions that have been ignored, according to Bradforth's family and supporters. His mother broke her silence on Friday and is now demanding answe... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is spearheading an effort to fully fund a newly-created federal program that could kick-start important federal-local infrastructure projects around military bases and which could benefit Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Along with Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA), Smith is the co-lead of a bipartisan letter asking for $100 million to be appropriated in the Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP), which was created last year to help improve local traffic flow and protect m... Read more

The 2019 Congressional Art Competition sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who holds the annual show for high school students in the Fourth Congressional District, opened Tues., April 2. “Our student artists did a marvelous job. They make the art competition a success year after year and I am sure visitors to the 2019 show will once again be impressed by the talents of our students,” Smith said. “We have more than 70 entries from across Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties in the Fourth Congres... Read more

The pursuit of liberty and justice for all unites us as Americans — which is why I am so concerned that the United States is poised to extradite Judge Neringa Venckiene to face criminal charges in Lithuania for not returning a sexually exploited young girl to the alleged exploiter. Even more concerning is that at least two Lithuanian judges directly involved in her case were recently jailed, along with politicians, as part of an ongoing bribery and corruption investigation rocking the Lithuanian... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Global Health, issued the following statement on Monday: “Although I am cautiously optimistic that China, as part of trade negotiations, will list all variants of fentanyl on its list of controlled substances, this action means nothing without proper enforcement. Chinese-produced fentanyl has been trafficked into the U.S. and is killing Americans, and China has had the capability to crack down on this drug trade and has not don... Read more