New Jersey could be in line for federal funding to repair 12 of its coastal lakes in Monmouth and Ocean counties after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to include those bodies of water in a major study after Hurricane Sandy's devastation. The inclusion of those lakes – as well as a harbor and a watershed – in the study was a major coup for the counties because the Army Corps rarely works on smaller bodies of water and exclusion from the Army Corps' study would have meant the towns around ... Read more

The fight to bring home American children unlawfully held in foreign countries will be the heart of the testimony from “left-behind” parents who are victims of international child abduction at a congressional hearing Thursday. The U.S. State Department, under criticism for being slow to fully utilize the new “Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act” (The Goldman Act, (Public Law 113-150), will also testify. Smith, chairman of the Global Human Rights Subcommittee and auth... Read more

Highlighting a case eerily similar to the five-year fight waged by David Goldman to bring his abducted American son, Sean, home from Brazil, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) today joined Goldman and Texas father Chris Brann pressing for the return of Brann’s son Nico, age 6, who was abducted to Brazil in 2013. “The parental child abduction of Nico Brann to Brazil is a particularly egregious act of abduction and wrongful retention,” said Smith who has called and will chair a hearing this Thursday on... Read more

BY APP Staff Writers ERIK LARSEN and AMANDA OGLESBY - Since superstorm Sandy struck, Twilight Lake floods often. The storm dumped sand into the lake when it pushed feet of water through this Bay Head neighborhood in 2012, raising the already shallow lake bed. In the three years since, Twilight Lake has overflowed its banks during heavy rain and nor'easters. “We have a low part of the town, and it floods constantly," said Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis. “We need to ... keep the water in Twilight Lake... Read more

News reports that the Obama administration is considering excluding Christians from its potential designation of ISIS genocide victims, and only including the Iraqi religious minority Yazidis, have left U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues, “shocked and dismayed.” “ISIS has also committed genocide against Christians,” Smith said. “They have been systematically targeted for murder, torture, rape, displacement – extermina... Read more

Twelve Monmouth County lakes, prone to flooding and able to wreak havoc on communities in coastal towns, will now be included in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of New Jersey’s Back Bays, says Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) who hosted a meeting today with federal officials and representatives from shore communities in his congressional district. “Thursday’s meeting was the first in a series of planning and brainstorming meetings which will be held in order to spotlight our coastal lakes and work ... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) attended a local meeting of the Central Jersey Dystonia Support Group on Saturday to hear from dystonia patients and their loved ones about how dystonia has affected their lives. Smith also updated the group on federal efforts to research this debilitating neurological disorder and achieve earlier diagnoses. “Research makes all the difference in the world—but $12 million to $13 million at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) per year for dystonia is just not en... Read more

Voices of the Bosnian Genocide honored Helsinki Commission Chair Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) on Thursday with an award recognizing his efforts to ensure that the genocide at Srebrenica is acknowledged. “It is moving to receive this award from young people, many of whom are survivors of the genocide or lost relatives at Srebrenica and are now working to promote human rights,” said Rep. Smith. “Today the international community is nearly unanimous when it proclaims that the Srebrenica massacre was a ... Read more

The State Department’s use of “grade inflation” for governments known to be complicit in human trafficking abuse—i.e. countries such as China, Malaysia, Vietnam Cuba, and Uzbekistan—was examined and received widespread rebuke at a hearing today held by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues. Smith is the author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law which among other significant provisions mandates the ... Read more

Following the recent upswing in violent anti-Semitic attacks in several European nations, the U.S. House of Representatives today unanimously passed legislation urging the United States and European governments to take key steps to help keep Jewish communities safe. The legislation was introduced by Helsinki Commission Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). “The number of violent anti-Semitic attacks has increased from 100 to 400 percent in some European countries since 2013,” said Rep. Smith, who c... Read more