Applications for the popular Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) offered by the federal government will be accepted beginning Monday, Dec. 7 and ending Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. “This is one of the best FEMA grants that can help protect our firefighters as they do their jobs protecting the rest of us, including people, homes, businesses and public property,” said Smith, a long-time member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus who helped create the equipment grant progr... Read more

The Chinese Communist Party’s announcement of a “Two-Child Policy” should not be applauded, despite international acclaim being given to China for apparent revision of the 35-year-old “One-Child Policy,” said the Chairman of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04). At a hearing today, he called on the Chinese government to abolish all of its brutal population control policies and urged the Obama Administration to use existing U.S. law to block entry... Read more

Today, on Capitol Hill, Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, 9/11 advocate John Feal and first responders and survivors joined together with members of the Senate and House to call on Congress to extend and fully fund the bipartisan James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act by year’s end. Authorization for the Zadroga Act, which created the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, expired Oct. 1, 2015. The press conference occurred as Co... Read more

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, chaired by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, will hold a briefing Dec. 1 entitled “Best Practices for Rescuing Trafficking Victims.” The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, authored by Chairman Smith, and its reauthorizations have numerous provisions to ensure that foreign victims trafficked into the United States receive at least the same care as refugees, and that they can apply for a T or a U visa if ret... Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), will hold a hearing Thursday, Dec. 3 to examine much-reported changes to the brutally enforced one-child policy recently announced by the Chinese Communist Party. The announcement that a universal two-child policy will be adopted, allowing all married Chinese couples to have two children, will be reviewed. The policy change was driven by serious demographic challenges currently facing China—a ... Read more

Chris Smith is U.S. representative from New Jersey, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chairman of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee, the U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. (CNN) On November 19, I voted for H.R. 4038, the American SAFE Act of 2015, which requires that, in addition to the Department of Homeland Security s... Read more

Chris Smith is a U.S. congressman representing New Jersey's Fourth District - In September, Pope Francis admonished a joint session of Congress to follow the Golden Rule, to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." He said that the Golden Rule compels us to "protect and defend human life at every stage of development" and that "it is wrong to remain silent and look the other way." The House has voted to form a select investigative panel to learn more about the brutal practices at Pl... Read more

The U.S. is not enforcing the provisions of legislation designed to force countries to return abducted children, according to the statute's author. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), said the U.S. is not imposing the sanctions required under the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act, named after a Tinton Falls son and father. The law requires the government to take a series of actions, including official protests, public condemnation, and the suspension of foreign a... Read more

By Anjali Shastry - The Washington Times - Friday, November 20, 2015 - The Obama administration isn’t using a new tool Congress approved in 2014 to bring back children abducted and taken abroad by a parent, a prominent victims’ rights advocate told the House on Thursday, saying the State Department’s preference for “quiet diplomacy” falls short. David Goldman, whose ex-wife took his son Sean to Brazil for more than five years, said the new law, dubbed the Goldman Act after his own plight, has re... Read more

The U.S. State Department’s deeply disappointing implementation of the new Goldman Act aimed at bringing home American children abducted and held overseas was the topic of a House hearing held by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), author of the law to put pressure on foreign countries to return American children. “I am concerned that the State Department has chosen not to impose any sanctions on any of those nations found to have engaged in a ‘pattern of noncompliance,’” Smith said. “The Goldman A... Read more