Schumer Urges Senate To Approve Terror Lawsuit Bill
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee is marking the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by focusing its attention on a long-deliberated bill that would allow victims to recover monetary damages from foreign sponsors of terrorism.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. said the committee will take up consideration of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act as the nation pauses next Thursday to remember the victims of the 2001 attacks.
Schumer and families of Sept. 11 victims held a press conference Monday at the World Trade Center site to urge the Senate to approve the bill.
"Justice must be done," Schumer said.
The bill allows victims and their families to sue foreign entities that sponsor deadly terrorist acts by eliminating protections in existing laws and legal decisions that give countries immunity, Schumer said.
"Any terrorist group that is funded by an outside state or group will be susceptible to being sued," Schumer said. That could include backers of Hamas and ISIS.
Since 2002, Terry Strada has been unsuccessful in her efforts to sue Saudi Arabia and other entities she believes financed the 9/11 attacks which killed her husband, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
"Al Qaeda did not act alone, 9/11 took a lot of money," Strada said. "As long as the financers continue to supply funding to terrorist organizations with impunity they will continue to repeat themselves over and over again."
Strada said her lawsuit is not about cashing in.
"It's about money stopping going to the next terrorist," Strada said.
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