WASHINGTON: The US Congress voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to override Barack Obama’s veto of a bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, the first such rebuke of his eight-year presidency.
The Senate overrode the veto in a 97-1 vote, followed a short time later by the House of Representatives, which knocked it down with a 348-77 vote. The rare act of bipartisanship was a blow to Obama, who lobbied hard against the bill, known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
White House press secretary Josh Earnest called the Senate vote “the single most embarrassing thing” the legislative body has done in decades.
“Ultimately these senators are going to have to answer their own conscience and their constituents as they account for their actions today,” he told reporters.
In a letter to Republican and Democratic Senate leaders, Obama said: “I strongly believe that enacting JASTA into law would be detrimental to US national interests.”
Obama warned of “devastating” consequences for the Pentagon, service members, diplomats and the intelligence services. It would “neither protect Americans from terrorist attacks, nor improve the effectiveness of our response to such attacks.”
“The United States relies on principles of immunity to prevent foreign litigants and foreign courts from second-guessing our counterterrorism operations and other actions that we take every day.”
Obama has issued 12 vetoes during his presidency. None have been overridden until now, a rare feat given Republicans’ longstanding control of Congress.
His Republican predecessor George W. Bush also issued 12 vetoes, of which four were overridden. The last president to avoid an override was the legendary Democratic congressional dealmaker — and former senator and congressman — Lyndon Johnson.
