Chris Smith

We as a people will give the kind of priority that religious freedom deserves for the persecuted people of the world.

There is no right more central than the right to religious freedom.

This Nation has committed itself not only to religious freedom at home but also abroad.

There is no--there is not a man whom I would prefer in that position to David Saperstein.

I would add exclamation points to the recommendation to do that.

I opposed it. It said let the record speak for itself.

There is a perception, as you know, among many--the 2013 GAO report cited this concern as well--that religious freedom is not a high priority for this administration.

First of all, let me thank Kevin Brady, the chairman, for his extraordinary leadership on this and so many other issues, and Mr. Blumenauer, with whom we have worked together to build a strong bipartisan push for this piece of legislation…

It seems to me that people sign up robustly with all kinds of good intentions which for whatever reason, different priorities, maybe apathy, and this program gets put on a shelf at least partially.

I would say I am not sure we all welcome the opposition, but we certainly know that it is part of the system.

This is absolutely disgusting. Remember 'South Pacific' that famous song, you have got to be taught--'You Have Got to be Taught' hate, and these children are being taught hate every single day and our money is complicit in it.

I remember at one of our hearings we talked about pep rallies, like American football game pep rallies, where terrorists were extolled and lifted up as heroes to young children who are, obviously, impressionable.

They are one-sided, and to have a human rights point person in the United Nations taking such a one-sided position does grave damage to the truth.

I have been very concerned about many of the statements coming from Prince Zeid of Jordan, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, which always tilt heavily against Israel.

This is an absurd system, especially when I am not sure if it was the chief objective of the Japanese occupying forces to issue a citizenship or residency papers.

We need to be able to define the difference between reasonable immigration law enforcement, which does involve deportations in some circumstances, with ethnic cleansing of people who have been there for generations.

Unlike the 2010 and 2012 elections where the standard was free and fair, for the November elections we are calling for elections to be transparent, inclusive and credible.

This is particularly disappointing when it comes to Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.

We advocate democracy around the world, but we should make it clear we advocate democracy with minority rights around the world.

We need to call upon--what we have here is to make sure that we are on the side of free elections, and that we want to help the Ukranians.

Everything is Russia's fault. Well, yes, when Yanukovych fled and the elected government was overthrown, the fact is the Russians did act, and I opposed that.

We want to end the conflict and upheaval that is going on that is so detrimental to all of the people of Ukraine and destabilizing to Europe.

H. Res. 354 is a blueprint for actions that are critical for the safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.

We are not going to make anything better by continuing to jab Russia rather than looking at ways we can cooperate to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The resolution highlights the importance of European governments supporting several key assessments and adjusting their strategies.