U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) presented long-overdue medals to Alfred Caponigro of Ocean Township, Monmouth County, on Dec. 22, nearly 73 years to the day after the veteran enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Caponigro enlisted Dec. 28, 1942, and fought in the Battle of Normandy on D-Day and the days afterward off Utah Beach on the coastal patrol vessel PC 1176, the sister ship of which was sunk during the battle. During his service, he became deaf and was discharged with a 100 percent disabil... Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2820) is now law, and authorizes $265 million for cord blood and stem cell research and treatment over the next five years. Smith and lead co-sponsor Rep. Doris Matsui shepherded the bill through the House last summer. It passed the Senate and House earlier this month and was signed into law by the President over the weekend. As adopted by both houses of Congress, H.R. 2820 now ensures that the two collaborative... Read more

The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam Representatives—Chris Smith (NJ-04), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), and Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), join today to appeal to the Prime Minster of Vietnam appealing for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Nguyen Van Dai. Mr. Dai is a respected human rights defender and founder of the “Brotherhood for Democracy,” an online group of formerly jailed political prisoners. Smith, Lofgren, and Sanchez, write in the letter “[h]is arrest is the latest exam... Read more

The 2016 Omnibus resolution that will be voted on in the House Friday includes a critical provision to extend much-needed health care coverage for the brave men and women who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean-up of Ground Zero. “The men and women who responded to the horrific attacks did so with unparalleled courage and without hesitation—concerned only for the welfare of individuals in and around the World Trade Center, not for the potential that they may become sick years later,” ... Read more

With a unanimous show of support, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s legislation, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2820), cleared its final hurdle and is on its way to the President for signature and enactment. Smith and lead co-sponsor Rep. Doris Matsui shepherded the bill through the House last summer with the support of Reps. David Jolly (R-FL) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA), and worked with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Al Franken (D-MN)... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) and Senator Marco Rubio (FL), the Chair and Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), sent a letter today to President Obama asking him to enforce existing U.S. law and implement visa bans against Chinese officials complicit in the brutal enforcement of forced abortions or forced sterilizations. Smith and Rubio said that “there has been a glaring lack of implementation” of visa ban legislation and requested that the President p... Read more

Several experts testifying on Capitol Hill today labeled the brutal campaign against Christians, Yezidis and others in Syria and Iraq genocide and called on the Obama Administration to declare it as such and provide the greater humanitarian actions and other relief genocide demands. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the house panel that oversees global human rights said today’s hearing focused on “the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, which constitutes genocid... Read more

On the eve of Human Rights Day, Congressman Smith and Chinese human rights leaders gathered to call for the release of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who remains in prison and whose wife, Liu Xia, remains detained and isolated in arbitrary detention. An empty chair at the press conference in the House Rayburn Building symbolized Liu’s absence. It was reminiscent of an empty chair that was also present at the ceremony where Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 in Oslo, Norway... Read more

The threat of an emerging crisis of a multi-drug resistant tuberculosis around the world was the topic of a hearing Tuesday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), head of the House Foreign Affairs Global Health Subcommittee, who convened a hearing on “Drug Resistant Tuberculosis: The Next Global Health Crisis.” Smith’s subcommittee heard testimony from three witnesses who are among the world’s leading experts on combatting TB: United Nations Special Envoy Dr. Eric Goosby; Centers for Disease Contro... Read more

What some believe amounts to genocide against religious and ethnic groups living in areas of Syria and Iraq now controlled by the Islamic State of al-Sham, also known as ISIS, was the topic of a House hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations chaired by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). “Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting Victims of ISIS Violence,” is the title of the hearing set to be held on Wednesday Dec. 9. Who: Cha... Read more