President Barack Obama will veto legislation that would allow families of September 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, a measure vehemently opposed by the USA ally, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday.
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Analysts believe that Obama will face a huge legislative battle in the upcoming days against the Congress on the case of JASTA, which would remove sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on USA soil.
The White House had previously suggested Obama would not sign the bill when it first passed the Senate in May saying it would complicate diplomatic relations, CNN reported. “The way that this bill is now written exposes the United States, US diplomats, US service members and, in some situations, even US companies to significant risk in courts all across the world”, he said.
Despite the legislation passing Congress unopposed, the administration may be able to build support to avert an override of Obama’s veto, particularly if the White House can delay that vote until after the November election.
It passed by unanimous voice votes in the Senate in May and the House on Friday.
Speaking on the Senate floor in advance of the White House meeting, McConnell confirmed that he expected action by week’s end on a funding bill including Zika money.
Cornyn, who cosponsored the bill in the Senate with Democrat Chuck Schumer of NY, defended the legislation, saying it “doesn’t mention any foreign government at all”.
The president has opposed the bill, which would let courts waive claims to foreign sovereign immunity in cases involving terrorist attacks on US soil, over fears that foreign governments might exploit the move to drag American officials into court.
The House unanimously passed the legislation on Friday despite the Obama administration’s months-old concerns and efforts to secure language changes.
The House of Representatives had approved the act on Friday, four months after the Senate had passed it and just two days before the 15th anniversary of the attacks on United States soil, which killed almost 3,000 people.
“It’s symptomatic of the fact that there’s just no support outside of the executive branch for a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia”, said Gregory Gause, a professor of global affairs at Texas A&M University.
Obama has served the longest period without a veto override of any president in more than a century. They argue that if Saudi Arabia, or any other government, is innocent of involvement in attacks, they have nothing to fear from the legislation.
On Sunday, a group of September 11 attack victims’ relatives sent an open letter to Obama, imploring him not to “slam the door shut and abandon us” by vetoing the bill.
The announcement came hours before Obama held a bipartisan meeting in the Oval Office with congressional leaders on averting a government shutdown and funding to combat the Zika virus.
“The president will continue to explain his opposition to this bill, ” he said.
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Goldsmith said this was inadequate, noting that “a circumstance that may be hard to satisfy in important cases, especially concerning the 9/11 claims against Saudi Arabia”.
