President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed a bill that would allow families of the victims of terrorist attacks in the United States to sue foreign governments believed to be linked to the strikes, setting up a hard election-year decision for congressional Democrats.
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Obama long had objected, too, warning that foreign countries might reciprocate by dragging American government, diplomats and military members before courts.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said in May the kingdom never issued threats, but had merely warned that investor confidence in the usa would shrink if the bill became law.
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which Buchanan has co-sponsored and championed, was unanimously approved by the U.S. House earlier this month and by the U.S. Senate in May.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of NY, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat and a traditional Obama ally, came out swinging against Obama’s veto while predicting lawmakers would reverse it “swiftly and soundly”.
Donald Trump criticized Obama for the veto and also promised to sign the bill if elected president. Cornyn says he looks forward to the opportunity for Congress to override the veto.
The president, in a statement explaining the veto on Friday, said he has “deep sympathy for the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), who have suffered grievously”. “If the Saudis did nothing wrong, they should not fear this legislation”, he told Politico Friday.
Major news outlets reported at the time that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had threatened to sell off up to $750 billion in US-based assets if Congress passed the then pending bill that would clear the way for lawsuits against the kingdom. Currently, victims of terrorism can only sue countries officially designated by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran and Syria, but not Saudi Arabia.
White House officials have been pressing their arguments with lawmakers in hopes of averting an override.
Saudi Arabia has argued that it had nothing to do with the attacks, and the 9/11 Commission also said it did not find a connection.
“Saudi Arabia has always been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization”, the commission’s report reads.
Republicans will certainly use the veto to cast Obama as putting monarchs in Riyadh before United States terror victims.
The JASTA has already drawn strong criticism from the Saudi government, a close US partner in fighting terrorism in the Middle East, which has denied any role in the plot of the 2001 terror attacks. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who shepherded the bill through the Senate the first time, said in a statement.
“As we’ve made this case, members of Congress in both parties have indicated that they are open to the concerns that we’ve expressed – in many cases, they share them”, Earnest said at a press conference Tuesday, as reported by NBC.
“We have spent the last eight days making that case, and we’re going to continue to do so, to Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress”, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday.
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In a break with her former boss, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said that, were she president, she would support the legislation. “(Chuck) Schumer and his colleagues in Congress to secure the ability of 9/11 families and other victims of terror to hold accountable those responsible”, said Jesse Lehrich, a Clinton spokesman. The Saudi government denies any links to the plotters. If that happens, it would be the first override of Obama in his two terms in office.
