10 things you need to know today: September 29, 2016

Congress overrides Obama veto of 9/11 victim bill, Senate approves stopgap spending to avert shutdown, and more

President Obama speaks at an event for troops
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Congress overrides Obama veto of 9/11 victim bill

The House and the Senate voted on Wednesday to override President Obama's veto of a bill to let the families of 9/11 victims sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any role it may have played in the terrorist plot. The lopsided votes — in the Senate, only Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sided with Obama — marked the first veto override of Obama's presidency. Obama called the override a "mistake." Before the votes, he wrote to Congress warning that the law "could be devastating to the Department of Defense and its service members" and create major problems for the U.S. in foreign affairs and intelligence gathering.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.