The House of Representatives rejected President Obama’s Nuclear deal with Iran today, 168-269. 25 Democrats joined all 244 House Republicans what is was a symbolic vote that will have no impact on the implementation of the deal.
Congressman Chris Smith spoke passionately against the deal yesterday on the House Floor:
WASHINGTON — The New Jersey congressional delegation is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend until Dec. 15 its deadline for receiving requests from Hurricane Sandy homeowners to reconsider their damage claims. The lawmakers, in a letter to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, sought another three months to give all homeowners enough time to contact the… Read the rest of this entry »
The New Jersey State Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has named Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ4) its 2015 Legislator of the Year.
VFW State Legislative Director William F. Thomson presented Smith with the award Monday in Hamilton, Mercer County. VFW State Commander Jack Kane announced the honor on June 19 at its annual convention in Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, N.J.
“The men and women in uniform make tremendous, selfless sacrifices for our nation,and they must know that when they come home they will receive the care and assistance they earned,” said Smith, who chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee from 2001-2005 and authored more than a dozen veterans’ laws. It is an honor for me to accept this award, but it is more of an honor to work for our veterans.”
WASHINGTON — All 12 of New Jersey’s U.S. House members called Friday for congressional hearings on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to allegations of fraud in payouts to Hurricane Sandy victims. The members asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman to convene a hearing to look at how FEMA handled charges that insurance companies… Read the rest of this entry »
Funding approved for replacement of bridge over Pews Creek
Middletown Committeman Tony Fiore, Congressman Chris Smith and Middletown Mayor Stephanie Murray inspect the Bay Ave Bridge on the second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, October 29, 2014. MMM file photo
MIDDLETOWN, NJ – Monmouth County was informed that it would be receiving a $2 million reimbursement from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the replacement of Bray Avenue Bridge (MT-2) over Pews Creek in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown.
The $2,006,208 allocation represents a 90 percent reimbursement for the rebuilding of the bridge that has been closed since the tidal surge created by Superstorm Sandy overtopped the bridge and advanced the deteriorating condition of the bridge significantly.
“Residents and commuters in the Port Monmouth area will be glad to hear this news,” said Freeholder Thomas A. Arnone. “With the financing in place, the County’s Public Works and Engineering staff can now shift gears and move the Bray Avenue Bridge replacement project forward.”
Calls on Federal Flood Insurance Program head to work with Jersey Delegation to establish retrospective claims process
Congressman Chris Smith and Monmouth County Shaun Golden prepare to survey Hurricane Sandy damage. November, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Dean of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, announced today that he will be hosting a meeting with Brad Kieserman, Deputy Associate Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), in order to establish a new, workable process for revisiting and resolving all flood insurance claims brought by Sandy-affected homeowners. Kieserman agreed to the meeting to which Smith will invite the entire NJ congressional delegation.
“After a lengthy and productive phone conference with Mr. Kieserman, I look forward to hosting the meeting with the NJ delegation and getting to the bottom of these widespread and outrageous practices that are defrauding and cheating NJ Sandy victims, who are federal flood insurance policy holders,” Smith said. “I am pleased that FEMA has agreed with my and others’ request to review any and all potential underpayments to Sandy victims. We can now work together to establish a new, credible process moving forward.
As the former chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the author of more than a dozen laws to modernize, expand and improve the services provided by the Veterans Administration (VA), I see the need to review and evaluate existing programs to ensure that they align with the promise a grateful nation makes to those who wear and have worn the uniforms of the United States military. As President Lincoln so eloquently said at the end of the Civil War: “Let us strive…to care for him who shall have borne the battle…” a phrase later adopted as the motto of the VA.
That is why I co-sponsored and twice voted for the “Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (SAV) Act.” This bipartisan legislation is named in honor of the late Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran whose story is not unfamiliar to many who have attempted to navigate the VA’s bureaucracy to receive the care they have earned. Clay Hunt was one of the many veterans who experience some form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of their service, yet he did not receive adequate mental health care in the VA system and took his own life at the age of 28.
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ-4), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Africa and Human Rights, responded to the controversy about a remark concerning homosexual rights and human rights that he made during a hearing last week on combating violence inflicted by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigera with a statement issued to MoreMonmouthMusings:
“All governments have a duty to protect everyone and I am unequivocally opposed to acts of violence against anyone,” Smith said, “All individuals, including LGBT persons, should be treated with respect and compassion.”
N.J. Congressman Chris Smith, (R-4th District, left, concludes a meeting with staff members, legal assistant, Cate Bendetti center, and Foreign Affairs Council Akkison Hollabaugh, right, before heading to the Capitol Building. Washington, DC. Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives today passed legislation to extend Megan’s Law beyond American borders. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), would require the U.S. to tell other countries when convicted sex offenders are traveling there. It would also try to set up reciprocal notification systems so the U.S. is… Read the rest of this entry »
If Republican Congressmen Chris Smith and Tom MacArthur vote for John Boehner (R-Ohio) to be the Speaker of the 114th Congress then they will both be breaking two foundational campaign promises: the first to defeat Obamacare and the second to end Obama’s policy of Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens. If they break either campaign promise both are certain face a mutiny at home by voters in two years.
On the issues of Amnesty and Obamacare, Speaker John Boehner has given Obama’s policies the Congressional stamp of approval. In the $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill that Boehner fought for and passed in December 2014, there were provisions that provided short term funding of Obama’s amnesty program.
Prior to the Republican Congress’s financial support, Obama was on shaky legal ground; however by providing funding for Executive Amnesty Boehner breathed new life into Obama’s strategy. The U.S. Supreme Court in Youngstown, a case dealing with the executive seizure of private property in the absence of congressional approval, established that, “Presidential authority is strongest when acting with the expressed or implied consent of Congress.” Through Boehner Congress has shown consent.
