Strada said the lobbying efforts from representatives of Saudi Arabia amounted to an intimidation effort from a country the USA still relies on heavily in the fight against terror groups like ISIS.
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“There will be a roll call vote on the veto override”, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told reporters on Tuesday. Both chambers passed the bill by voice vote.
“I hope that it can be put off, and cooler heads will prevail”, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, said this week, calling efforts to move ahead with the bill in its current form “a mistake”.
Still, an organization representing family members and victims of the attack, many of whom had demonstrated in front of the White House this week urging the President to sign the measure, voiced anger at Obama’s decision. On Sept. 9, two days before the 15 anniversary of 9/11, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the legislation.
The group, 9/11 Families & Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism, said they look forward to the override.
Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, a top Democrat and traditional Obama ally, on Friday blasted the president for vetoing the bill and predicted fellow lawmakers would quickly override it in a rare show of bi-partisan unity. After all, “If the Saudis did nothing wrong, they should not fear this legislation. If they were culpable in 9/11, they should be held accountable”, said Schumer.
A congressional veto override is expected.
Officials at the Saudi embassy in Washington weren’t immediately available for comment.
“The families of the victims of 9/11 deserve their day in court, and justice for those families shouldn’t be thrown overboard because of diplomatic concerns”, Schumer said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did not publicly comment on the veto, but a spokesperson for her said Clinton would not have vetoed the bill if she were president, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Saudi Arabia, a key USA ally in the Middle East, strongly objected to the bill. It also threatens to strip all foreign governments of immunity from judicial process in the country based exclusively upon allegations by private litigants that a foreign government’s overseas conduct had some role or connection to a group or person that carried out a terrorist attack inside the United States. The administration has also heard complaints about the bill from the European Union, which warned in a letter to the State Department that if the measure becomes law, USA diplomats and corporate executives could face retaliation in overseas courts.
In his veto message to Congress, Obama said the legislation “undermines core us interests”, upending the normal means by which the government singles out foreign nations as state sponsors of terrorism and opening USA officials and military personnel to legal jeopardy.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the administration has been receiving “conflicting signals from members of Congress” regarding the possibility of an override.
The legislation would have allowed families to sue Saudi Arabia over its alleged ties to the 2001 terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, by authorizing USA courts to waive any claim of foreign sovereign immunity in cases involving terrorism on US soil. The pages reignited speculation over links that at least a few of the attackers had to Saudis, including government officials. The Saudi government has denied culpability.
“These are wonderful people, and as a lifelong New Yorker, I am saddened that they will, for now, not have that opportunity”.
In a 2003 report, the USA government’s 9/11 Commission said there was no evidence Saudi Arabia had funded al-Qaeda. The kingdom may have additional holdings not included in the data on deposit with the New York Federal Reserve Bank, in entities in third countries, or through positions in derivatives.
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This doesn’t mean that the bill is dead – not yet. But prolonged negotiations over a government funding bill and a package to combat Zika virus have delayed the recess, meaning lawmakers are still likely to be in Washington next week to cast an override vote.
