Obama cited the potential for the popular bipartisan bill to backfire against the US, its diplomats and military personnel.
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That step is not assured, though. “I believe both parties will come together next week to make JASTA the law of the land”, Chuck Schumer of NY, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate and a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement, using an acronym for the measure. “This bill weakens the protections provided to foreign sovereigns under US law and makes it easier to sue foreign governments and foreign government officials in USA courts”.
Schumer – echoing a familiar line from supporters of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) – added that “if the Saudis did nothing wrong, they should not fear this legislation”.
The president returned the bill to the Senate with a three-page letter in which he argued that enacting JASTA “would neither protect Americans from terrorist attacks nor improve the effectiveness of our response to such attacks”, and it “would be detrimental to US national interests”.
“I also have a deep appreciation of these families’ desire to pursue justice and am strongly committed to assisting them in their efforts”, the president said.
Fearing its consequences, the US President said JASTA would upset longstanding worldwide principles regarding sovereign immunity, putting in place rules that, if applied globally, could have serious implications for the country’s national interests and it can even complicate relations with its closest partners.
Supporters of the bill deride that notion, however, pointing out that US law, while establishing broad immunity from lawsuits, already permits suits against foreign nations that engage in unlawful acts, such as murder. The U.S. relies on the Saudis as a counter to Iran’s influence in the region as well as to help combat the spread of terrorism throughout the Middle East. A bipartisan group of lawmakers backed the 9/11 families bill.
President Obama made good on his threat to veto a bill allowing lawsuits against foreign sponsors of terrorism Friday, setting up what could be the most contentious veto override vote of his presidency.
But White House aides say lawmakers have been open to concerns raised in private conversations.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama “is much more anxious about the long-term impact of this legislation on our national security than he is about the impact that this could have in his daily interactions with members of Congress”. “[President Obama is] willing to take some heat” due to the risks of national security should the legislation go into effect. The White House spokesman Josh Earnest even said that they have been getting conflicting signals from members of Congress, and was not sure if their concerns would lead them to vote against an override..
Congress’ first priority in the next week will be passing a new government funding measure before the current one expires September 30.
Passing the bill by voice vote means there is no record of individual lawmakers’ positions on the measure.
The victims’ relatives have lobbied aggressively for the proposal.
They say the sovereign immunity law had been previously interpreted to allow such cases to proceed until 2005, without the kind of repercussions the administration now warns about.
“If any of these litigants were to win judgments – based on foreign domestic laws as applied by foreign courts – they would begin to look to the assets of the U.S. Government held overseas to satisfy those judgments, with potentially serious financial consequences for the United States”, Obama said.
Some Congressmen hinted that they would hold an extraordinary session ahead of the recess. But the panel did determine that some senior leaders supported extremist causes, and that monitoring all such funding remains elusive.
“This president has gone longer in his tenure in the White House than just about any other president in modern history before facing the prospect of having his veto overridden”, Earnest said. Saudi Arabia, a key USA ally, strongly objected to the bill.
Saudi Arabia rejected the accusation, which it said was from a “deranged criminal” with no credibility.
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Lawmakers can override the president’s veto with a two-thirds vote by each chamber of Congress.
