Funds Cut for Homeland Security Headquarters

He said he hoped the project could be included in next year's budget.

The president had requested a total of about $345 million for the General Services Administration to stabilize the site and begin work on the first major building, a headquarters for the Coast Guard. The GSA owns the western campus of St. Elizabeths. Millions more had been requested in the homeland security budget.

Norton has called the Homeland Security headquarters her "major economic development project for the District," a massive undertaking that could spur growth in Southeast.

But the plan has drawn fire from historic-preservation and urban-planning experts, who say relocating 14,000 employees to the site would overwhelm it.

Norton said yesterday she was in discussions to find other ways to come up with the money.

"I do believe we can work out something between the Congress and the president. Homeland security is his signature issue," she said. She declined to provide details, saying it would be "impolitic" since there was no agreement.

But the GSA indicated that the decision to eliminate the funding would be a serious setback. In a statement, the agency said it was "extremely disappointed" in the cut.

Norton said the good news for the District was that Congress "tried to save every priority we had." But she acknowledged that some projects got trimmed in the latest round of budget negotiations.

The bill provides $33 million for the D.C. tuition-assistance grant program, $2 million less than the president had requested. It also makes available $8 million for a program to reduce sewer overflows into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and $9 million for the D.C. central library, according to the Norton release.