"So I'd like to think that there's a way we could fix so that our service members do not have legal problems overseas, while still protecting the rights of the 9/11 victims, which is what JASTA did do," Ryan said in a statement to the media on Thursday.
Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that the highest governing body in the land did not really think their actions through when they overrode President Obama’s veto.
“Nobody really had focused on the potential downside in terms of our international relationships," McConnell told USA Today. "I think it was just a ball dropped."
McConnell, in a backhanded form of dodging responsibility, also went so far as to blame Obama for not expressing his concerns with the current wording sooner.
"I hate to blame everything on him. And I don't," he said. "But it would have been helpful had we had a discussion about this much earlier than last week."
Immediately following the vote, the White House called the override the “most embarrassing” thing the US Senate has ever done.
The White House also responded to the late concerns about consequences by pointing out that ignorance is no excuse.
"I think what we've seen in the United States Congress is a pretty classic case of rapid onset buyer's remorse," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. "It's hard to take at face value the suggestion that somehow they were unaware of the consequences of their vote. But even if they were, what's true in elementary school is true in the United States Congress, ignorance is not an excuse, particularly when it comes to our national security and the safety and security of our diplomats and our service members."
While JASTA applies to any act of terrorism on US soil, the primary focus has been on Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
"The erosion of sovereign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States," Riyadh said in a statement on Thursday. The kingdom further stated that it hopes Congress will work "to avoid the serious unintended consequences that may ensue."
JASTA was intended to allow for victims and the families of the 2001 attacks to sue the Saudi government. Riyadh has denied aiding and abetting the terrorists who attacked the World Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people, in spite of the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.
While Saudi Arabia decried the bill, and lobbied hard against it, the American public is overwhelmingly in favor of it as it currently stands.
“Reflecting the desire to keep the public placated, while at the same time giving in to Saudi demands, Sens Bob Corker (R – TN) and Lindsey Graham (R – SC) both indicated that the ‘fixes’ would be implemented after the November elections, during the lame duck session,” Antiwar.com reported.
