In a shocking display of bipartisan unity, the Senate has overruled President Obama’s veto of a 9/11 bill which would allow victims of the terrorist attack to directly sue the Saudi Arabian government.
Now that the Senate has made their decision, the veto heads to the House. Once there, two thirds of congress members must oppose the president’s veto in order to put it fully to rest.
As the bill made its way through the branches of government, the president vowed to veto it as soon as it made it to his desk. When that finally happened last week, the president vetoed it immediately, despite nearly unanimous support from both Democrats and Republicans.
The decision to overturn the president’s veto was likely not an easy one for many Senate Democrats. This marks the first time in Obama’s nearly eight years in office that one of his vetoes have been struck down.
The vote to veto the president was nearly unanimous, 97 to 1. The one who opposed the veto was Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Minority Leader.
We often forget just how important all three branches of our government are, but this display of opposition and power from the lower branches shows that the executive branch is not always the one calling the shots.
