Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 28 September 2016: Obama’s veto on a 9/11-Saudi Arabia bill overridden

On Friday 23rd September Barack Obama vetoed a bill that allows the families of the victims and injured in the terrorist attack on 11th September 2001 to sue the governments and citizens of foreign countries, specifically Saudi Arabia, that have supposedly sponsored terrorist acts. Five days later the House of Representatives voted 348-77 and the Senate 97-1 on Wednesday to override the veto. New York Senator Chuck Shumner argued that the bill will let victim's families seek “some small measure of justice”. Texas Senator John Cornyn rejected the concept that Congress will revisit the regulation later this year and said that the bill is just a done deal. Both senators pushed hard for the bill to be adopted.

White House criticized the decision of congress and said that regulation could cause a dangerous precedent, enabling suing of American diplomats and military personnel. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said: “This decision is the single most embarrassing that United States Senate has done possibly since 1983”. The criticism was echoed by CIA director John Brennan who argued that the Congress entered “a very dangerous slippery slope”. President Obama, while speaking with CNN, said that the decision of the Congress had been a mistake and added that he understands why it had happened as “all of us still carry the scars and trauma of 11th September 2001.”

President Obama has used the veto power 12 times and this is the first time when Congress has overridden it. While Republicans, who regularly criticise president’s decisions, hold the majority in Congress, overriding the veto was also supported by members of President’s party.