Kenya’s recent elections—which included important changes to its government and electoral process funded in part by the United States and which had sharply reduced levels of violence than had followed the bloody 2007 elections—were the topic of a hearing held Tuesday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees Africa and international human rights. Smith called Kenya a “critically important” African ally, noting that the United States has devoted m... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) spoke during a House Special Order about the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The following are excerpts of his remarks. "Mr. Speaker, will the decades-long major national news media cover-up of the brutality—and violence—of abortion methods ever end? "Will Americans ever be told the horrifying details as to how—and how often—abortionists dismember, decapitate, and chemically poison innocent babies? "Will Americans ever be informed by a conscientious, unbiased news me... Read more

The newest named ship in the U.S. Navy will bear the name of the city where the nation saw its origins forged in battle under the leadership of Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), the Dean of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, was informed of the decision today in a conversation with the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus this afternoon. The new, revolutionary vessel—the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV)—will bear the name of one of the nation’s ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights, held a hearing Thursday, April 11 entitled “Highlighting Vietnamese Government Human Rights Violations in Advance of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue.” He gave the following opening statement: "Thank you for joining us for this important hearing to examine the ongoing human rights situation in Vietnam. "The Vietnamese government continues to be an egregious violator of a broad array of human rights. Our distinguished witnesses... Read more

Blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, known for his daring night-time escape from Chinese secret police in 2012 and the subsequent international efforts to secure his freedom and move to the United States, testified in person for the first time before Chairman Chris Smith’s (NJ-04) global human rights subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was a sharp contrast to Chen’s live call to Smith during a similar hearing on May 3, 2013 from a Chinese government hospital bed in China.... Read more

A Medicare-sponsored program designed to provide all-inclusive health care for seniors, while allowing them to remain independent in their own homes, will be spared and protected despite original plans by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to rewrite the rules and thereby gut the program. Rep. Chris Smith, co-chair of the Alzheimer’s Disease Task Force, who led a bipartisan effort to persuade the federal government to withdraw its proposal, hailed the reversal as a win for senior... Read more

Representatives Chris Smith (NJ-04) and Jon Runyan (NJ-03) said the New Jersey Department of Transportation will receive $76 million in federal funding for New Jersey’s planned Route 35 reconstruction in Ocean County. “This vital infrastructure project will replace what was an aging, antiquated roadway even before Sandy, with a state-of-the-art stretch of highway that is designed to last,” said Smith, whose district like Runyan’s, includes large parts of Ocean County. “Route 35 is an important t... Read more

The eye-opening testimony of a Planned Parenthood lobbyist in Florida before Florida state legislators asserting that abortionists should be allowed to let a baby born alive after a botched abortion die are alarming, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Co-Chairman of the House Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, and a sign of Planned Parenthood’s extreme and evolving positions on abortion. In an interview to air Friday with Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and ... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Coalition on Autism Research and Education (C.A.R.E.), marked today as World Autism Day and April as National Autism Month. “The human costs of autism are staggering,” said Smith, author of the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act, Public Law 112-32, signed into law in September 2011. “It makes the necessity of seeking prevention, effective treatments and even someday a cure more critical than ever.” The CDC in 2012 released a... Read more

Times of Trenton guest opinion column: Superstorm Sandy caused close to $37 billion in damages in New Jersey. For days and weeks afterward, churches, synagogues, mosques and temples in New Jersey that were spared serious damage opened their doors to those left homeless by the storm. Their congregations did not ask those who were stranded about their religious affiliation. They did not deny people food and shelter because they were not among their congregants. Now, more than a dozen New Jersey ho... Read more