During today’s markup, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to extend and authorize annual appropriations for the State Department’s United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) through fiscal year 2028.

                If enacted, Smith’s United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 1744) will reauthorize the Commission, which was created through the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (PL 105-292)—of which Smith was an original cosponsor.

                The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 created a strong, coordinated U.S. government response for addressing and combatting worldwide religious persecution, establishing numerous religious freedom-focused offices and positions at the State Department and the National Security Council.

                During the markup of his bill, Smith, who has chaired more than 30 congressional hearings on the state of religious persecution throughout the globe, reiterated the need to continue funding this critical program: “It is vital that we reauthorize the USCIRF because it is the linchpin of the entire program that Congress created to promote religious freedom through the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

                “The USCIRF is tasked with defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad, reviewing reports of religious freedom violations, and making policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress,” the leading religious freedom lawmaker continued.

                Smith is also the author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (PL 114-281), which updated the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to enhance and expand United States’ actions to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts.

                “Today, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is the U.S. government’s strongest and most respected voice for victims of religious persecution worldwide. USCIRF, in recent years, has been more effective than at any point in its history,” Smith said, concluding that “USCIRF is important to millions of our constituents of all faiths.”

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