an appropriations request letter to retain longstanding pro-life protections
Support retaining longstanding pro-life protections in appropriations measures.
Occurrences
Evidence
Smith led a bicameral letter urging EPA to add mifepristone to the Contaminant Candidate List, arguing the drug may be contaminating public water systems and poses public-health risks.
The enacted appropriations law includes abortion-related riders: it bars federal funds for abortions and abortion coverage, restricts District of Columbia abortion spending except in rape, incest, or life-endangerment cases, and forbids foreign-aid funds from lobbying for or against abortion.
The Labor-HHS-Education division bars appropriated funds and covered trust-fund money from being spent for abortion or abortion-inclusive health benefits coverage, with rape, incest, and life-endangerment exceptions.
The same law preserves abortion-related limits for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and District of Columbia abortion expenditures, with limited exceptions.
The State and foreign assistance division includes a prohibition on funding abortions as family planning and a separate bar on using funds to lobby for or against abortion.
On the motion to concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 7148, the Clerk records the vote as passed, 217-214; Smith (NJ), Republican, New Jersey, voted Yea.
Congress.gov records H.R. 7148 as becoming Public Law 119-75 on February 3, 2026, after House concurrence and Senate passage.
The Department of Justice title bars appropriated funds from paying for abortion except for life-endangerment, rape, or incest, and bars requiring a person to perform or facilitate abortion.
The House passed H.R. 6938 by Roll No. 7, 397-28; Smith (NJ) appears in the Yeas list for final passage.
Assessments
The promise was to support retaining longstanding pro-life protections in appropriations measures, not necessarily to single-handedly enact them. During Smith's current federal House term, FY2026 appropriations laws became public law with multiple abortion-related funding restrictions retained, including Hyde-style Labor-HHS limits, foreign-assistance abortion restrictions, FEHBP and D.C. abortion expenditure limits, and Justice Department abortion/conscience provisions. Smith voted yea on the relevant House passage/concurrence votes, which is direct same-term support for appropriations measures that retained the promised protections.
The promised policy outcome was at least partly achieved during Smith’s current term: the FY2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act kept multiple longstanding abortion-related funding restrictions in place, which aligns with retaining pro-life protections in appropriations measures. However, the provided evidence does not directly show Smith’s own appropriations-specific action such as sponsoring the rider language, leading the appropriations effort, or a documented vote/statement tied to retaining those protections. The separate 2026 EPA letter shows ongoing pro-life advocacy, but it is not an appropriations measure. Given that the outcome occurred while he remained in office but candidate-specific credit in the supplied record is limited, partial credit fits better than full delivery.