The Obama administration will offer a $200-million fund to help pay for security costs in cities hosting trials of accused terrorists such as the 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, lawmakers and officials said Saturday.

The money will be included in a budget plan for 2011 of around $3.7 trillion President Barack Obama will submit to Congress Monday, a congressional aide said.

With support dwindling for the trial of five suspects in federal court in lower Manhattan, a White House official said Saturday the administration continues to explore options outside New York City but that still no decision has been made.

The administration said in November the trial of Mohammed and four others would take place at the Pearl Street courthouse, blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. Though the Justice Department has yet to publicly back down from that plan, officials have acknowledged other sites are under consideration.

Asked about alternative venues at a news conference that previewed parts of the federal budget in Manhattan Saturday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "I think the administration is exploring all the alternatives. I have not talked to them about the details of what the alternatives will be other than to talk about the lack of feasibility of doing it in New York."

He added, "They have made no commitments yet, but to me it's pretty obvious that they cannot have these trials here in New York."

And asked about other sites upstate being mentioned as possible venues, Schumer said, "I don't think any of those could be suitable sites for the trial."

Republicans, notably Long Island's Peter King, argue any trials should be conducted by military commission and held outside the United States, preferably at the U.S. detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Saturday, King (R-Seaford) said the absence of a final decision from the administration "makes our entire homeland security apparatus look confused."

A source said Schumer had been privately telling the White House for "at least a couple of weeks" that holding the trial in New York City was not a good idea. He told them more directly it was untenable in the past week after Mayor Michael Bloomberg made public his concerns surrounding the costs and disruption.

A City Hall spokesman said Saturday the city had no comment about a venue change until there was an official statement from the White House.

Bloomberg put the cost of tighter security at $216 million just for the first year after the suspects were to arrive from the U.S. military detention center - and a further $200 million a year for every year following that the trial ensued.

Asked about the $200 million being allocated in tomorrow's budget, Schumer said he had told the administration that if it was to still be held in New York, he expected the federal government to "pay every nickel."

Legally, there is no requirement that trials be held in the places where the most victims died, experts said. But politically, the administration faces a mounting challenge as a growing number of lawmakers in the president's own party say they would rather not have the proceedings in their states.

With Pervaiz Shallwani

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