The White House argued Tuesday that Republican opposition to a bill giving 9/11 victims the right to sue Saudi Arabia is a good reason to think twice about the legislation, just moments after a top Senate Republican stepped up his criticism of President Obama for his decision to oppose it.
House Speaker Paul Ryan indicated his worries about the bill on Tuesday, and early Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was putting a hold on the bill.
Presidential press secretary Josh Earnest said stressed the importance of the national security relationship the U.S. shares with Saudi Arabia, and said the bill would jettison immunity for foreign governments, an important element of international diplomacy. He made his remarks just hours before Obama was set to travel to Riyadh.
“That does not mean there are differences between the two countries – there are substantial differences” that Obama plans to address during his trip to Riyadh this week, he said. But Earnest noted that Ryan has also said he’s worried about the broader impacts of the bill.
“Speaker Ryan indicated that he at least had similar concerns about the way this bill is structured… not just as it relates to Saudi Arabia but other countries around the world,” Earnest said.
After Graham put a hold on the bill, Earnest said that move shows there are real bipartisan fears about the legislation.
“In the current political climate, bipartisan support is rare, but I think in this instance… it’s an indication of how significant these questions are, and a recognition of the serious unintended consequences” it could cause, he said.
Before Earnest spoke, Sen. John Cornyn accused President Obama on the Senate floor of “pulling out all the stops” to protect Saudi Arabia from a bill that would let families of Sept. 11 victims sue that country.
“I wish the president and his aides would spend as much time and energy working with us in a bipartisan manner as they have working against us, trying to prevent victims of terrorism from receiving the justice that they deserve,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor.
“We should use every means available to prevent the funding of terrorism, and the victims of terrorism in our country should be able to seek justice from people who do fund that terrorist attack,” he added.
Cornyn and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., teamed up to write the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The measure, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year, would take away immunity from foreign governments in cases “arising from a terrorist attack that kills an American on American soil.”
The White House indicated Monday that it would veto a bipartisan bill giving Americans the right to sue foreign governments for terrorism, specifically Saudi Arabia for its role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
But Obama isn’t the only one preventing progress on the bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers need to review the bill to “make sure we’re not making mistakes with our allies.”
