President Obama intends to veto a bipartisan bill allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in federal court by Friday, the end of a 10-work day period that presidents have to veto legislation before it becomes law, according to a White House spokesman.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that Obama has used the intervening days since the measure reached his desk to make his case against it to lawmakers before vetoing it.
“We’ve made clear that we wanted to have an opportunity to make our case to Congress, but as soon as he vetoes the bill, we’ll let you know,” Earnest said.
The decision to use up all the time the White House has before vetoing the bill gives the administration more time to make its case against it to Congress, before Congress votes to override his veto. A override vote is expected soon after Obama vetoes it.
The White House has argued that the measure would make Americans, including military servicemen and woman and U.S. diplomats, less safe when working abroad because other countries could respond in kind and begin suing them in their own courts, possibly on trumped up charges. It would also likely threaten U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia.
Family members of Sept. 11 victims have protested outside the White House this week, calling on Obama to either quickly veto the bill or let it become law.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has broad bipartisan appeal from lawmakers supportive of the families of Sept. 11 victims. The bill passed the House by voice vote Sept. 9 and the Senate by unanimous consent in May. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were Saudi citizens, and in July, a long-classified portion of a congressional investigation into the attacks showed that they may have received some help from Saudis connected with ties to the government.
Two leading Republicans, however, are trying to postpone the vote to override Obama’s veto over their own concerns about the impact the law would have on U.S.-Saudi relations.
Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina want to postpone a vote on overriding Obama’s veto until the lame-duck congressional session after the election to allow for a cooling off period.
