Overriding of veto draws rebuke from White House

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The White House lashed out at Congress on Thursday, a day after Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly overrode President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill to allow families of the 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. The White House turned to mockery as top GOP leaders expressed buyer’s remorse and vowed to fix the bill.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both said the measure, the only law enacted over Obama’s veto in his eight years as president, needed repairs. McConnell said the law may have “unintended ramifications,” while Ryan said “there may be some work to be done” to make sure it doesn’t lead to U.S. service members overseas being sued.

“Everybody was aware of who the potential beneficiaries were, but nobody really had focused on the downside in terms of our international relationships,” McConnell told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

The law gives victims’ families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks. Courts would be permitted to waive a claim of foreign sovereign immunity when an act of terrorism occurred inside U.S. borders.

Supporters said the families of 9/11 victims should be able to pursue justice against Saudi Arabia for its alleged backing of the attackers. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis. Nearly 3,000 people in New York, the Washington, D.C., area, and Pennsylvania died in the terror attacks.

The White House had long raised concerns about the law, warning that it could have a chilling effect on Saudi Arabia’s cooperation with the U.S. in fighting terrorism.