WASHINGTON (CNN) — In a rebuke to the White House, the Senate approved a bill Tuesday to allow victims and families of the 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for its alleged involvement in the terrorist strikes.
The bill, which the White House opposes, House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed concerns about, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was slow to embrace, had stalled for months.
But in the end, the bill’s authors — John Cornyn of Texas, the second ranking Senate Republican, and Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Senate Democrat — were able to pass the bill on a voice vote, a rare feat in the divided chamber, especially for a controversial issue.
Formally known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, the bill would prevent Saudi Arabia and other countries alleged to have terrorist ties from invoking their sovereign immunity in federal court.
Saudi Arabia has long denied any role in the 9/11 attacks, but victims’ families have repeatedly sought to bring the matter to court, only to be rebuffed after the country has invoked legal immunity allowed under current law.
The bill still needs to be taken up by the House.
