Families pressure lawmaker on 9/11 memorial
By Kimberly Hefling


Rep. Charles Taylor is concerned about project's cost.
WASHINGTON — Family members of those killed on United Flight 93 are urging a North Carolina congressman to lift his hold on funding for a memorial planned for the Pennsylvania site where the plane crashed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Nearly a dozen family members are scheduled to meet with their members of Congress today to encourage them to sign a letter that asks Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., to support $10 million for the project.

Taylor, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department, has blocked millions in funding for the project in the past two years, and has expressed opposition to funding it when it comes up again before his committee May 3, said John Scofield, the House Appropriations Committee spokesman.

The White House has requested $5 million for the nearly 1,700-acre site in remote western Pennsylvania as part of a larger spending bill.

Taylor issued a three-page statement Tuesday in which he expressed concern about the project's size and cost. He said a cost-sharing arrangement had been worked out under which Pennsylvania would make a large donation, but "to my knowledge, the state of Pennsylvania has not appropriated any funds."

Kate Philips, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, said Tuesday that the state has committed $10 million.

The flight was en route to San Francisco when it was brought down near Shanksville, Pa. The 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers on board died.