The bill allows families of victims of the 9/11 attack to sue Saudi Arabia in United States courts over the attack, based on evidence that the Saudi government played a role in supporting al-Qaeda in the lead-up to the attack. President Obama repeatedly vowed to the veto the bill if it got through Congress, claiming “taxpayers” are at risk.
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“We have serious concerns with the bill as written”, a White House official told The Hill on Wednesday. However, supporters of the measure feel strongly that they have the required two-thirds majority to override such a veto. The bill would deny Saudi Arabia the ability to invoke sovereign immunity against lawsuits in USA courts. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally in March during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to 750 billion USA dollars in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts, The New York Times reported. Opponents of the bill said it could strain relations with Saudi Arabia and lead to retaliatory laws targeting us citizens or corporations in other countries.
“In fact what they [Congress] are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities, which would turn the world for worldwide law into the law of the jungle”, Al-Jubeir said.
Prior to passing the bill, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) called upon his colleagues to support the bill to support the victims of the terrorist attacks.
The bill passed unanimously by voice vote, with lawmakers calling it a “moral imperative” for family members of those killed in the attacks to be able to seek justice as the 15-year anniversary approaches.
A co-sponsor of the 9/11 bill, Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, called on the White House to sign it into law. If they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about. In fact, the usually reliable White House ally, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, even issued a statement on Friday calling on the President to sign the bill.
The proposed legislation could allow American courts to freeze USA assets held by the Saudis, prompting the possibility of a major sell-off by the Saudis before the bill is passed. They showed no new information linking Saudis to the attackers.
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Two months ago, Congress released 28 declassified pages from a congressional report into the 9/11 attacks that sparked renewed speculation about possible links between the 9/11 hijackers and the Saudi government, or representatives of the government. It wasn’t debated on either the House or Senate floors.
