Brian J. Tumulty

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Senate could vote as soon as next week on legislation that would allow survivors of the 9/11 attacks and family members of people killed in the attacks to file damage suits against Saudi Arabia.

Passage of the legislation would allow several lawsuits -- consolidated into one case on behalf of 9/11 victims and several insurance companies -- to proceed in the Southern District of New York as lawyers attempt to prove Saudi involvement in the terrorist plot.

Even if such proof exists, the Saudi government would not be liable if the officials involved acted on their own without authorization.

The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), would provide an exception to sovereign immunity protection in the case of countries involved in terrorist attacks inside the United States.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently lifted his hold on the bill after it was modified to more closely resemble the original version approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Right now we hopefully can get this done quickly and there will be no more holds and the families can finally seek justice,’’ Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday. He co-authored the bill with Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.

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JASTA passed the Senate by a unanimous voice vote on the final day of the last Congress but never received a vote in the House.

“If it passes the Senate we will make every effort to have it passed it in the House,” Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in a statement.

James Kreindler, an attorney who co-chairs the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the consolidated 9/11 lawsuit, predicts JASTA "will sail through the House'' if it passes the Senate unanimously again.

Saudi Arabia’s possible role in helping the 9/11 terrorists received renewed attention after 60 Minutes aired a segment on April 10 saying 28 still-classified pages of findings by the 9/11 Commission might point to Saudi involvement in the 2001 attacks.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the attacks were Saudi citizens.

White House officials have pledged to finish reviewing the classified pages by June 1. James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence, told reporters April 25 he considers the June 1 deadline “a realistic goal.’’

However, CIA Director John Brennan, told NBC’s Meet the Press on May 1 that he has concerns about releasing the documents.

“It was a preliminary review that put information in there that was not corroborated and not vetted and not deemed to be accurate,” Brennan said, adding that the 28 pages contain “a combination of things that is accurate and inaccurate.’’

A follow-up investigation “came out with a very clear judgment that there was no evidence that indicated that the Saudi government as an institution or Saudi officials individually had provided financial support to al Qaida,’’ Brennan said.

Families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks are frustrated there's never been a public explanation of how the terrorist scheme was financed. They have pursued a lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of New York since 2003 seeking an answer.

“We have never been able to get a full public accounting of the 9/11 attacks and this lawsuit is really the only avenue we have left,’’ said Kathleen Owens of Mineola, N.Y. Her husband, Peter, a government bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center, died in the attacks.

“Our lawyers have spent tens of millions of dollars doing the job our government should have done, which is following the money trail,’’ Owens said. “And they asked the question, ‘Who paid for 9/11?’ And all roads led to Saudi Arabia. So if our government had done their job, our lawyers wouldn’t have had to.’’

Sharon Premoli of Dorset, Vermont, who barely escaped from the World Trade Center before it disintegrated, is amazed so few members of Congress have expressed curiosity in learning who financed the terrorist attacks that killed 3,000 people.

"If Congress passes (JASTA), they are saying those 3,000 people’s lives are very important,’’ Premoli said. “It’s unbelievable that neither Congress nor two presidents have had the courage to say, ‘We have to tell the truth.’’’

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Contact Brian Tumulty at btumulty@gannett.com Twitter: @NYinDC