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Press Releases

March 3, 2011

Washington, D.C. - The House Judiciary Committee today approved legislation to ban the federal funding of abortion.  The Committee favorably reported H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” by a vote of 23-14.

Chairman Smith issued the following statement at today’s markup in support of the bill. 

February 28, 2011

Washington, D.C. - Today, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding the implementation of REAL ID.  It has been reported DHS is planning to

February 25, 2011

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today issued the following statement regarding the President’s bipartisan health care summit:

February 24, 2011

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the following statement in response to the thwarted terror plot in Texas.  Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia in the U.S.

February 23, 2011

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today criticized the Administration’s decision not to defend a federal marriage law enacted by Congress in 1996.  The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) affirms the definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.  It was passed with bipartisan support in Congress and signed into

February 23, 2011

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today introduced a bill to bar Guantanamo Bay detainees from entry into the U.S.  The Keep Terrorists at Bay Act of 2010 (H.R. 4648) closes the legal means by which the Administration can bring terrorists into the U.S.

February 17, 2011

Washington, D.C. - The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report finding the U.S.-Mexico border is vulnerable to cross-border illegal activity.  Of the nearly 2,000 miles separating the U.S.

February 17, 2011

[Statement on the House Floor]

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today urged the House to pass a 90-day extension of expiring national security provisions.  Below is Chairman Smith’s statement from the House floor.

February 15, 2011

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the following statement regarding the proposed New York Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse merger. 

February 14, 2011

House Extends PATRIOT Provisions

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today called on the Senate to take up the House’s extension of the PATRIOT Act to prevent national security provisions from expiring at the end of February. The bill passed by a vote of 275-144.