WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) received three different awards from the Alzheimer’s Association of America, the Humane Society of the United States and by Lifetime Television for his commitment and hard work on several important issues.   Smith also continued his leadership in the House of Representatives on international issues, leading floor debate on three separate bills – two of which he authored and the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, of which he was a primary co-sponsor.

Congressman Smith was awarded with the “Chairman’s Leadership Award” at the National Alzheimer’s Gala by the Alzheimer’s Association.  The Association recognized Smith for his leadership of the Congressional Alzheimer’s Task Force and his commitment to fighting Alzheimer’s disease through research and legislative efforts desgined focus the nation’s attention on the devastating impacts of the disease.  The Task Force continues to successfully expand support for Alzheimer’s research and enhance the services needed to provide much assistance to patients, their families and caregivers.  In addition, it focuses on the search for more effective treatments and potential cures for current and future Alzheimer’s patients.  Since the establishment of the Task Force, federal funding for Alzheimer’s disease has doubled and funding has increased for programs designed to help patients and caretakers. 

As part of its “Stop Violence Against Women” Initiative, Lifetime Television honored Smith for his relentless work on human trafficking.  All three of the United States’ laws on human trafficking (Trafficking Victims Protection Acts of 2000, 2003, 2005) have been written by Congressman Smith in the past six years and have helped transform the way that governments and the private sector respond to this critical issue around the world.  In October, Smith joined Mira Sorvino and other members of the cast of the Lifetime miniseries “Human Trafficking” at the Washington, DC screening.  He credited the Network for bringing needed attention to the human trafficking issue and a remarkable job of depicting the horrors of this modern day slavery.

The Humane Society of the United States awarded Smith with the “Humane Champion” award for receiving a perfect score on the Humane Scorecard and taking the lead on animal welfare issues in 2005.  The Humane Society made note of Smith’s efforts to coalesce broad bipartisan support to secure funding needed to ensure adequate enforcement of key animal welfare laws.  Smith initiated a group letter – co-signed by 141 Representatives and 41 Senators covering 40 states – seeking funds for to improve enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the federal animal fighting law.  The letter helped to persuade the appropriations committee to raise funding for animal welfare enforcement by $5.4 million in Fiscal Year 2006.

“And I thought it was going to be a slow day,” said Smith.