Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a leading voice on foreign affairs and human rights in the U.S. Congress, spoke on the House floor today in support of the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013.

    “The Iranian government is estimated to be a little more than a year away from becoming a nuclear weapon state – an unprecedented and absolutely unacceptable threat. We need this legislation to strengthen existing economic sanctions,” said Smith, co-chair of the Bi-Partisan Anti-Semitism Task Force and chair of the House human rights subcommittee. The legislation, H.R. 850, increases pressure on the Iranian government as it seeks to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Click here to read his floor statement.

    A senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Smith praised the legislation for targeting officials who have violated human rights, including government censors. “The Iranian government is one of the worst human rights abusers in the world,” Smith said.

    The Congressman, who is co-chairman of U.S. Helsinki Commission and an Executive Member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, chaired the landmark 2002 hearing, “Escalating Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe.” He has worked to put the issue of anti-Semitism at the top of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agenda, which resulted in the OSCE adopting new norms for its 56 member states on fighting anti-Semitism in 2004, and a series of high-level conferences on combating anti-Semitism.

    Smith is the author of the provisions of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 that created the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism within the U.S. State Department.

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