CONGRESS BACKS BID TO ALLOW SUITS AGAINST SAUDIS

WASHINGTON The U.S. Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to override President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation that would allow 9/11 victims’ families to sue the Saudi Arabian government over its alleged support for the terrorists who carried out the attacks.

The votes in the House and Senate amounted to a sweeping, bipartisan rejection of the White House’s argument that the legislation poses a national security threat because it could expose U.S. officials to similar lawsuits abroad.

Travelling aboard Air Force One Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest called the vote “the single most embarrassing thing the United States Senate has done possibly since 1983,” when Congress overwhelmingly voted to override then-president Ronald Reagan’s veto of an Oregon land-transfer bill.

The sharp rebuke of the president is a sign that Saudi Arabia’s fortunes are waning on Capitol Hill. The Saudi government has denied it had any ties to the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks and has lobbied fiercely against the bill. But victims’ families have pushed for the legislation so they can press their case in courts.

Last week, the Senate voted on a resolution to restrict arms sales to Saudi Arabia until it stops targeting civilians in Yemen.