[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14017]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               JUSTICE AGAINST SPONSORS OF TERRORISM BILL

  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak briefly about what 
occurred yesterday on the Senate floor when the Senate and the House of 
Representatives overrode a veto in order to ensure that the victims of 
9/11 had an outlet, if you will, to try to seek justice and 
compensation. It was not as satisfactory as most in this body would 
hope. I am hopeful that over the course of time between now and the 
lameduck, or shortly thereafter, we will have a way to rectify some of 
the issues that concern us.
  I don't think many Members are aware of that fact that Senator Cardin 
and I attempted throughout the last weekend to set up a meeting with 
the White House to go over options that could, in fact, be more 
beneficial to our country and, at the same time, give some justice to 
the people of 9/11. I think many people here know that there were Saudi 
officials here seeking to come up with some option that might work 
better than the option that we all opted for, with none other 
available, yesterday.
  We were unable to get the President to convene a meeting that we had 
hoped would include the Secretary of State--we had a couple of 
conversations with Secretary Kerry and I also had conversations 
directly with the White House--and to set up a meeting between the 
President and Secretary Kerry, and, of course, Leader McConnell, Leader 
Reid, Senator Cardin, and myself, as well as the two major sponsors of 
the bill. The purpose was to see if the issues with the bill that we 
voted on yesterday could be resolved via a better route. Was there 
another option that we could consider, and could we develop a timeframe 
where that could be considered to take us to an improvement over where 
we were yesterday?
  For reasons that still are unknown to me, that was not achievable. 
There was no desire whatsoever to sit down and meet. I am unaware of 
any meetings that took place to try to resolve this issue. My friends 
on the other side of the aisle mentioned that they did have a letter 
read to them at lunch one day regarding the President's views. But now 
we have passed a bill. In fact, the victims of 9/11, whom many of us 
have met with, now have an outlet to try to seek justice. I think there 
was a desire--as was written yesterday in a letter, which many Senators 
here signed and many others have discussed--to amend what occurred 
yesterday to put us in a better place.
  So it is my hope, now that we have a piece of legislation that has 
become law, that maybe the executive branch--which, by the way, we 
tried to get to engage in this issue over this entire last year--will 
sit down with us and figure out an option that might work a little 
better than what passed yesterday on the floor. That hasn't occurred. 
There just has been no engagement. Even at the last minute, with the 
first veto override facing the administration, there was just an 
unwillingness to sit down and discuss routes that can take us to a 
better place.
  So I know there is a desire on the House side, I know there is a 
desire in this body, as was widely expressed yesterday, and I know 
there is a desire--no doubt--for the victims to be able to get answers 
to the questions they have had and to seek, in their minds, justice. 
There is a desire for that. But there is also a desire to do so in a 
manner that will not possibly undermine other equities that the U.S. 
Government and our people have.
  So I am hopeful that over the course of the next 6 weeks--last night 
I had a discussion with a Saudi official whom I know is desirous of 
sitting down and pursuing that, as they have been over the course of 
the last week--now that this has become law, the administration will be 
willing to do the same. My sense is that, with some of the comments 
that are going to be made publicly and some of the back-and-forth that 
will occur over the next 6 weeks, I am hopeful that the major sponsors 
of this bill, who are leaders in this body, will be willing to do that 
so that we will be able to create some alterations that, unfortunately, 
were not available to us yesterday to cause this piece of legislation 
to better serve U.S. national interests.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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