Cornyn: White House ‘MIA’ during 9/11 debate

No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn hit back at the White House Wednesday, saying it was “missing in action” during debate on legislation to allow 9/11 victims and their families to sue Saudi Arabia.

{mosads}”What’s so remarkable to me is the detachment of this White House from anything to do with the legislative process,” the Texas Republican, who co-sponsored the bill, told reporters. 

“They were basically missing in action during this whole process.”

Cornyn’s remarks come after White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One that the 97-1 veto override vote “is the single most embarrassing thing that the United States Senate has done, possibly, since 1983.” That year, President Reagan saw a land bill veto brought down with a 95-0 vote. 

Cornyn, who helped spearhead the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), said the White House lacked “contact and credibility” in both parties on this piece of legislation. 

“The White House, and, frankly, the State Department, were pretty much MIA,” Cornyn added. 

His comments aren’t the first time the White House has been accused of being hands off on JASTA.

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said earlier this month that their efforts to work with the White House to change the 9/11 bill didn’t get a response. 

Corker said Wednesday he reached out to the White House “multiple times” to try to get a meeting to talk about the legislation but he never got a response. 

“There’s been zero involvement from the White House, zero, and when you have a veto like this it takes involvement,” he said. “There’s nothing.”

Obama warned in a veto message to the Senate last week that the bill would improperly give legal plaintiffs and the courts authority over complex and sensitive questions of state-sponsored terrorism. 

He sent a letter to Senate leaders early this week reiterating his concerns and spoke on the phone with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid was the sole vote to sustain Obama’s veto in the Senate on Wednesday. Not a single Democrat came to the floor before the vote to argue in favor of Obama’s position.

The House is also voting on an override of Obama’s veto on Wednesday. 

Updated 4:11 p.m.