“I do anticipate the president would veto this legislation when it is presented to him”.
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President Obama will likely veto controversial legislation empowering the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia if that nation is found legally liable for supporting the deadliest terrorist attack in us history, the White House said on Monday.
Historically, Congress has overridden less than 10 percent of all presidential vetoes.
The House passed the measure on Friday just before the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
The White House issued a veto threat Tuesday over a House bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds to transfer any terrorism detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba to the mainland US or another country. The Senate passed the bill in May.
Saudi Arabia is a long-standing U.S. ally but it was also home to 15 of the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers who carried out the attacks on the United States on 11 September, 2001 in which nearly 3,000 people died. But the pages shed no significant new light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged ties to the attack.
Prior to the House vote, Speaker Paul D. Ryan told reporters Thursday that members had weighed concerns about the bill but that most seemed to believe the arguments for the legislation were more compelling. That bill has been filibustered by Senate Democrats since June, but negotiators say there has been progress toward a resolution.
Administration officials have also cited America’s decades-long strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia as reason to not upset Riyadh.
“The principle of sovereign immunity protects the United States as much as any other country in the world, given how much the us is involved in the world”, Earnest said. In that regard, they’re probably not wrong, though the United States has tended to pick and choose with sovereign immunity, protecting its allies from lawsuits while setting up suits against global rivals.
During the White House press briefing with reporters, Earnest reiterated the president’s concerns about upsetting ties with top Middle East ally Saudi Arabia, where numerous 9/11 hijackers were from. “I hope for their sake that the administration will rethink vetoing this bill”. The decision sparked intense discussions among government officials and advocacy groups over the possible negative effects on U.S. national security.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, also criticised the bill the state news agency Wam reported.
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The bill has not been passed from Congress to the White House.
