The upcoming congressional face-off also puts an added degree of pressure on Senate Democrats who, though they supported the initial legislation, might be concerned about having a hand in the first veto override of Obama’s presidency.
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On Friday, September 9th, the United States House of Representatives passed the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act,” or JASTA, by a voice vote with no objections.
The bill allows families of victims of terrorist attacks to sue countries whose citizens have been involved in these attacks.
However, the bill “would be detrimental to US national interests more broadly, which is why I am returning it without my approval”.
Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed in World Trade Center Tower One, told AFP the 9/11 “families are outraged and very disappointed” by Obama’s decision.
Cornyn has received a rare ally in the measure: Democrat Hillary Clinton, who represented NY in the Senate with Schumer. Still, Ryan said the September 11 victims “need to have their day in court”, and declared there are enough votes in the House for a veto override to pass. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office said the chamber would vote “as soon as practicable in this work period”.
The number of lawmakers who plan to vote against the veto and reinstate Saudi Arabia’s exposure to legal action is hard to tally, according to the White House deputy press secretary, Josh Earnest, because of “the frequency with which we hear private concerns expressed that don’t match the public votes that are cast [later]”.
New York-U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday sent back to the Congress the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act known as JASTA along with his veto, White House sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The bill’s apparently strong odds of an override point to United States lawmakers’ increasing willingness to pull back on historically close ties with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil and a prominent global funder of fundamentalist religious doctrine.
Fifteen of the 19 men who carried out the 9/11 attacks were Saudi nationals.
Obama said JASTA would depart from longstanding standards and practices under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, threatening to strip foreign governments of immunity from judicial process in the United States.
Republican nominee Donald Trump said the veto “will go down as one of the low points of his presidency”, and that he would sign the bill as president. The White House has been working to convince politicians not to attempt such a move. The Saudi government has denied culpability.
“This is a disappointing decision that will be swiftly and soundly overturned in Congress”, Schumer said in a statement Friday.
This is the 12th veto by President Obama in his eight years in the White House, and none of his first 11 have been overturned.
JASTA would be a special case abrogation of sovereign immunity, a legal premise that allows governments to do whatever they want without fear of legal repercussions from individuals.
The bill had triggered a perceived threat by Saudi Arabia to pull billions of dollars from the US economy if it was enacted. “I would love to have him sign the legislation into law, but if he decides to veto it, I hope he does it quickly so we can just as quickly vote to override that veto”.
But other senior members of congress, even those who now are concerned about the effects of the bill, have said they expect the vote to be held next week.
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A veto override in the House also appears highly likely.
