The House of Representatives took up the final fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last night and with it authorized a $47 million project championed by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) that will protect and enhance critical Joint Base missions. The NDAA Conference Report, which reconciles House and Senate versions of the defense bill, contains funding for a new Army aviation facility that will house the Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (... Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, gave the following remarks about the new report released on the Benghazi attack of Sept. 11, 2012, at a full committee hearing today. "On March 12, 1999, I chaired a hearing—the fourth in a series—that focused on the findings of the two Accountability Review Boards that had been established to probe the August 7, 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam," Smith said. "Admiral William Crowe, chai... Read more

Written by Malia Rulon Herman Gannett News Service A New York businessman imprisoned in Bolivia for more than 18 months without being formally charged was released on bail this week, Republican Rep. Chris Smith said Tuesday. The man’s daughter, Chaya Weinberger of Lakewood, had begged lawmakers at a congressional hearing in June to help free her father, Jacob Ostreicher. She told Smith and other members of Congress her father’s health was in jeopardy the longer he remained behind bars. “We’re ex... Read more

Jacob Ostreicher, an American businessman imprisoned without formal charges for over 18 months in Bolivia, is finally out of prison on bail, following a hearing today in Bolivia, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (NY-12), who returned from a bipartisan congressional delegation to Bolivia on Dec. 9 to meet with Ostreicher. No evidence of any wrongdoing was ever presented in the case. While welcoming this first positive development in Jacob’s case, Smith expres... Read more

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, held a hearing today on the Chinese Government's violations of human rights against members of the Falun Gong. The hearing, entitled "The Falun Gong in China: Review and Update," was held December 18, 2012 in the Russell Senate Office Building, with Vice Chairman Sherrod Brown. Chairman Smith gave the following remarks: "In the early 1990s, the Chinese government and the Communist Party welcomed th... Read more

Brick Township, N.J. is being reimbursed more than $4 million by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for damages to its Wastewater Treatment Facility and for emergency protective measures taken following Superstorm Sandy. In making the funding announcement, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) explained that the funding is a part of FEMA’s early recovery process and is based on current best estimates available and could be increased when further documentation warrants. A combined federal/state/local tea... Read more

Fifty-five firefighters who face impending lay-offs will be spared the budget axe through a new $14.9 million federal grant to help the capital of New Jersey’s fire department, announced Congressman Chris Smith (Robbinsville, N.J.), who is in his final two weeks representing the City of Trenton in Washington after redistricting removed the city from the Fourth Congressional District. Additionally, nine entry-level positions will be funded to offset expected retirements. This new FY2012 SAFER gra... Read more

The city has been awarded a $14.9 million FEMA grant that will save the jobs of 55 firefighters and provide funding to hire nine more, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith announced today. The Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant will fund the jobs for the next two years, saving the firefighters from impending layoffs, Smith said. The department will also hire hire nine entry-level firefighters to make up for expected retirements. “This FEMA grant will save 55 Trenton firefighters faci... Read more

Congressman Smith issued the following statement on the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn.: “Marie and I offer our thoughts and prayers for the entire community of Newtown, Conn., and especially for the parents, students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This has been a horrible ordeal. So many lives have been lost and so many others have been changed forever. This is a difficult time for them to get through. They have gone through something that no school community should ever have ... Read more

Nearly 50 family members of imprisoned American Jacob Ostreicher—parents, wife, daughters, son, grandchildren and in-laws­­—traveled to Washington D.C. today to call for their loved one, who has been detained without formal charges for over 18 months in Bolivia, to be set free. Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a leading human rights leader in Congress, and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (NY-12) held a press conference today on the steps of the Capitol, just days after returning from a bipartisan ... Read more