Rep. Christopher “Chris” Smith
Representative for New Jersey’s 4th District
pronounced KRISS-tuh-fer // smith
Smith is the representative for New Jersey’s 4th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 1981. Smith is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 71 years old.
![Photo of Rep. Christopher “Chris” Smith [R-NJ4]](/static/legislator-photos/400380-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Smith proposed $33 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $6 million to The Ocean County Utility Authority for “Ocean County Central Water Pollution Control Facilities Primary Digester”
- $6 million to Township of Lacey for “Lacey Township Railroad Avenue Extension”
- $4 million to The Borough of Lakehurst for “Lakehurst Water Treatment Plant Expansion”
View all requests and justifications on Smith’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Smith is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Smith has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 5, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Christopher “Chris” Smith sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations subcommittee Chair
Africa subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Smith was the primary sponsor of 64 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1082 (117th): Sami’s Law
- H.R. 7829 (117th): United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2022
- H.R. 221 (116th): Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act
- H.R. 8438 (116th): Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2020
- H.R. 3289 (116th): Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019
- H.R. 1058 (116th): Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2019
- H.R. 2200 (115th): Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018
Does 64 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Smith sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (50%) Health (15%) Transportation and Public Works (9%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Smith recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 7427: Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act of 2024
- H.R. 7213: Autism CARES Act of 2024
- H.R. 7122: Stop Support for UNRWA Act of 2024
- H.R. 7025: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2024
- H.R. 6954: Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act of 2024
- H.R. 6909: COBALT Supply Chain Act
- H.Res. 915: Urging the Government of Ukraine to review and modify its decision to suspend …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1981 to Mar 2024, Smith missed 526 of 25,294 roll call votes, which is 2.1%. This is on par with the median of 1.9% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
