But the kingdom has strongly objected to the proposed legislation allowing 9/11 lawsuits, which would give victims’ families the right to sue Saudi Arabia in US courts over any role that the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks.
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The White House left no doubt Monday that President Obama would veto a bill allowing victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia in federal courts, saying it would undermine the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy and would expose USA interests to be sued in foreign courts.
Despite the legislation passing Congress unopposed, the administration may be able to build support to avert an override of Obama’s veto, particularly if the White House can delay that vote until after the November election.
But others who helped plan and finance the attacks haven’t been identified or tried in US courts, according to the families of 9/11 survivors and victims.
Obama’s first meeting with both House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., since February came a week after lawmakers returned to Washington from a seven-week summer recess. The Senate version boasts 24 co-sponsors, including such unlikely allies as Sen. “Additionally, the bill authorizes federal courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over and impose liability on a person who commits, or aids, abets, or conspires to commit, an act of global terrorism against a USA national”.
Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives introduced the bill on Friday.
Historically, Congress has overridden less than 10 percent of all presidential vetoes.
“That’s still the plan”, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said when asked if the President planned to veto the bill.
Obama intends to use a traditional veto, rather than rejecting the measure by not signing it, meaning he will send it back to Capitol Hill.
But the bill that Congress passed last week represents both a symbolic affront to Saudi Arabia (and other nations) and a toothless vehicle for any actual recovery against them. In May, the GOP-controlled upper chamber unanimously approved the bill and the lower chamber passed it in a bipartisan fashion.
The Senate has been aiming to leave the capital as soon as this week and the House next week. The bill would allow citizens to sue countries without that designation, like Saudi Arabia.
Earnest defended the administration’s stance against the bill saying it was not “an effective, forceful way for us to respond to terrorism”.
Long-sought provisions to provide money to deal with Zika look likely to be added to a must-pass spending bill to fund the government through December 9. But he has been highly critical of Saudi Arabia for failing to reciprocate the financial and military support it gets from the United States.
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“While we remain absolutely committed to assisting the families of 9/11 victims and sympathize with the motivation behind the legislation, we have serious concern over the potential negative implications for USA interests and our national security”, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters at a briefing on Friday.
