A day after they overwhelmingly rejected a presidential veto, US lawmakers on Thursday began expressing doubts about the Sept. 11 legislation, known widely as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
The Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives opened the door to fixing the law as they blamed US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for not consulting them adequately.
“I do think it is worth further discussing,” Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, acknowledging that there could be “potential consequences” of JASTA.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress might have to “fix” the legislation to protect US service members in particular.
Ryan did not give a time frame for addressing the issue, but Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he thought the issues could be addressed in Congress after the Nov. 8 election.
Corker criticized the White House, saying he had tried to work with the administration to find a compromise before the veto override, but the administration declined a meeting.
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who championed JASTA in the Senate, said he was open to revisiting the legislation.
“I’m willing to look at any proposal they make but not any that hurt the families,” he said at a news conference.
Trent Lott, a former Republican Senate Majority Leader now at a Washington law firm lobbying for the Saudis, said attorneys would look carefully at JASTA’s language.
“You can amend something like this,” Trott said.
Meanwhile, a US State Department official told Arab News: “We are disappointed by the congressional override of the presidential veto of the JASTA legislation.”
He said: “While we remain profoundly sympathetic to the 9/11 families and their desire to pursue justice, this legislation could have serious, broad-ranging negative implications for global US interests. A number of international partners have raised their concern about this legislation and we share that concern as well.” 
He added that the US relationship with Saudi Arabia “is strong and solid, has stood the test of time, and is based on a wide range of interests, and we will continue to work with the Saudi government on some of the most pressing global and regional issues.”
For its part, the Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement declaring that the enactment of JASTA is of great concern to the community of nations that object to the erosion of the principle of sovereign immunity, which has governed international relations for hundreds of years.
It stated that the erosion of sovereign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States.
“That is why the president, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of the CIA have expressed their opposition to JASTA as it has been drafted,” said the statement.

Source: Arab News