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29-09-2016, 03:40 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
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Congress Rebukes Obama on 9/11 Bill with Historic Veto Override
Both houses of Congress voted Wednesday to allow Americans to sue Saudi Arabia.
Tina Nguyen,
Vanity Fair,
29th Sept 2016.
For the first time in his presidency, both houses of Congress voted Wednesday to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue countries - specifically, Saudi Arabia that have allegedly sponsored terrorist acts. The veto override passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with the Senate voting 97-1 to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, followed by the House, which voted 348-77, across party lines.
Last week, President Obama vetoed the bill, arguing that it could be applied too broadly, allowing other countries to sue American businesses, diplomats, officials, and military-service members abroad. The White House claimed it would hamstring future diplomatic efforts, make it harder for the president to conduct foreign policy, and ultimately take the responsibility for responding to terrorist attacks “out of the hands of national security and foreign policy professionals” and placing it with an army of private litigants and lawyers.
The White House criticized Congress’s decision in uncharacteristically harsh terms. “I would venture to say that this is the single most embarrassing thing that the United States Senate has done, possibly, since 1983,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday, as the vote turned to the House. Both sides have accused the other of a failure to communicate, with the Obama administration claiming that Congress was not both unclear about its reservations and misinformed about the bill, and lawmakers saying that the White House never engaged on the issue, despite numerous attempts to open a dialogue.
The Saudi government also furiously lobbied against the bill, Politico reports, pressuring American businesses like Dow Chemical, Boeing, and Chevron, by hinting that they could seize the assets of U.S. companies abroad in retaliation. “Many foreign entities have long-standing, intimate relations with U.S. financial institutions that they would undoubtedly unwind, to the further detriment of the U.S. economy,” former Senate majority leader turned lobbyist Trent Lott told his ex-colleagues in a letter sent Monday.
However, the vast majority of lawmakers on Capitol Hill - including several of Obama’s staunchest Democratic allies - sided in favor of the bill, saying that they wanted the victims of the 9/11 attacks to get justice. “Overriding a presidential veto is something we don’t take lightly, but it was important in this case that the families of the victims of 9/11 be allowed to pursue justice, even if that pursuit causes some diplomatic discomforts,” New York senator Chuck Schumer, the bill’s co-author, said. (Democratic senator Harry Reid, the minority leader who is retiring at the end of his term, sided with the Obama administration.)
Others in the foreign-policy establishment, including C.I.A. director John Brennan, expressed disbelief that Congress had nearly unanimously defied the president. “I think is a very, very dangerous slippery slope that we are going to get on,” Brennan told the Washington Ideas Forum, Politico reports. “Foreign governments are going to start to pass similar types of legislation that is going to haul the United States into court overseas even for the most frivolous of charges and allegations for what the US has done overseas.”
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (https://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?236017-Hussein-Obama-received-tight-slaps-from-bipartisan-Senate-amp-Congress&goto=newpost).
http://www.walagata.com/w/ghisallo/Barack-Obama-Bowing.jpg
Congress Rebukes Obama on 9/11 Bill with Historic Veto Override
Both houses of Congress voted Wednesday to allow Americans to sue Saudi Arabia.
Tina Nguyen,
Vanity Fair,
29th Sept 2016.
For the first time in his presidency, both houses of Congress voted Wednesday to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue countries - specifically, Saudi Arabia that have allegedly sponsored terrorist acts. The veto override passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with the Senate voting 97-1 to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, followed by the House, which voted 348-77, across party lines.
Last week, President Obama vetoed the bill, arguing that it could be applied too broadly, allowing other countries to sue American businesses, diplomats, officials, and military-service members abroad. The White House claimed it would hamstring future diplomatic efforts, make it harder for the president to conduct foreign policy, and ultimately take the responsibility for responding to terrorist attacks “out of the hands of national security and foreign policy professionals” and placing it with an army of private litigants and lawyers.
The White House criticized Congress’s decision in uncharacteristically harsh terms. “I would venture to say that this is the single most embarrassing thing that the United States Senate has done, possibly, since 1983,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday, as the vote turned to the House. Both sides have accused the other of a failure to communicate, with the Obama administration claiming that Congress was not both unclear about its reservations and misinformed about the bill, and lawmakers saying that the White House never engaged on the issue, despite numerous attempts to open a dialogue.
The Saudi government also furiously lobbied against the bill, Politico reports, pressuring American businesses like Dow Chemical, Boeing, and Chevron, by hinting that they could seize the assets of U.S. companies abroad in retaliation. “Many foreign entities have long-standing, intimate relations with U.S. financial institutions that they would undoubtedly unwind, to the further detriment of the U.S. economy,” former Senate majority leader turned lobbyist Trent Lott told his ex-colleagues in a letter sent Monday.
However, the vast majority of lawmakers on Capitol Hill - including several of Obama’s staunchest Democratic allies - sided in favor of the bill, saying that they wanted the victims of the 9/11 attacks to get justice. “Overriding a presidential veto is something we don’t take lightly, but it was important in this case that the families of the victims of 9/11 be allowed to pursue justice, even if that pursuit causes some diplomatic discomforts,” New York senator Chuck Schumer, the bill’s co-author, said. (Democratic senator Harry Reid, the minority leader who is retiring at the end of his term, sided with the Obama administration.)
Others in the foreign-policy establishment, including C.I.A. director John Brennan, expressed disbelief that Congress had nearly unanimously defied the president. “I think is a very, very dangerous slippery slope that we are going to get on,” Brennan told the Washington Ideas Forum, Politico reports. “Foreign governments are going to start to pass similar types of legislation that is going to haul the United States into court overseas even for the most frivolous of charges and allegations for what the US has done overseas.”
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (https://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?236017-Hussein-Obama-received-tight-slaps-from-bipartisan-Senate-amp-Congress&goto=newpost).