The House International Relations Committee began work today on major legislation to provide nearly $10 billion for State Department programs and other foreign policy initiatives for each of the next two years. Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, released the following statement regarding the success and positive impact of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released today for the fifth year. The report was mandated by Smith’s first trafficking bill, signed in October 2000 (Public Law 106-386): Read more

The House of Representatives today overwhelmingly adopted legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to establish, for the first time ever, a nationwide cord blood stem cell transplantation system. Read more

Landmark legislation creating a new federally-funded stem cell therapeutic and research program for the scientifically sound collection and inventory of umbilical cord blood will be on the floor of the House of Representatives the week of May 23rd, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said today. The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act creates a new federal cord blood stem cell program, reauthorizes and expands the current federal bone marrow stem cell program, and establishes a new federally-funded data ... Read more

Citing the 1995 DOD decision to close Navy Lakehurst and four other rounds of BRAC over the last fifteen years, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), called today’s BRAC announcement “another big win” for Navy Lakehurst and Ocean County. Read more

Seven years ago this month, the East African nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia began a devastating two-year conflict that cost the lives of as many as 100,000 soldiers and civilians. The war, which largely took place on Eritrean territory, displaced a third of that country’s population and caused massive destruction. The deprivation in both countries continues long after the war ended, and the suffering goes on. Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith today announced that the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to repair storm damaged bulkheads along the Point Pleasant Canal. Read more

I want to thank my good friend from Iowa, Jim Leach, for co-chairing today’s joint hearing, and for his groundbreaking work in authoring the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. I was proud to work with him on that legislation, and I share his resolve to see that the new law results in real improvements in the lives of the men and women of North Korea. It is particularly fitting that we are meeting today, on the first anniversary of the North Korean Freedom Day rally that took place on the National Mall. Read more

The Subcommittee will come to order. I am pleased to convene this hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. Today we will be examining the U.S. government’s efforts to combat two killer diseases, Malaria and Tuberculosis, which are ravaging the developing world. Read more

The premier US agency charged with investigating government procedures, mistakes and general policy implications has agreed to Rep. Chris Smith’s (R-Hamilton) request for a comprehensive examination of the actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency in response to the discovery of asbestos at the site of the former W.R. Grace/Zonolite plant in Hamilton, New Jersey. Read more