Congress
passes bill letting 9/11 victims sue Saudi Arabia, in face of veto threat
Despite veto
threats from President Obama, the House on Friday gave final approval to a bill
that would allow the victims of 9/11 to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.
"We
wanted it to come to the floor, symbolically before the 15th anniversary,"
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the bill's sponsor told The Associated Press.
"We've been aiming toward that the entire session."
The Senate
passed the bill in May by voice vote despite strong objections from Saudi
Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were
Saudi nationals.
The vote could
put Congress on a collision course with the White House.
The White
House has hinted that Obama would veto the bill over concerns about exposing
Americans overseas to legal risks. If the door is opened for U.S. citizens to
take the Saudis to court, then a foreign country could in turn sue the United
States, the Obama administration has cautioned. Votes from two-thirds of the
members in the House and Senate would be needed to override a veto.
Friday’s House
vote comes two months after Congress released 28 declassified pages from a
congressional report into 9/11 that reignited speculation over links at least a
few of the attackers had to Saudis, including government officials. The
allegations were never substantiated by later U.S. investigations into the
terrorist attacks.
The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
FOX NEWS
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