New York ? Breaking an impasse that threatened to hold up the rebuilding at Ground Zero, state officials and developer Larry Silverstein reached an agreement Wednesday under which Silverstein gave up control over the planned 1,776-foot Freedom Tower.

The deal came after months of sometimes-bitter negotiations over the future of the World Trade Center site.

Officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the property, had been pressing Silverstein, who holds the 99-year lease on the site, to give up some control over the project. City and state officials had argued that Silverstein lacked the money to build it all and was running the risk of an embarrassing failure.

“With today’s agreement, we can now move forward with rebuilding the World Trade Center,” Silverstein said. He said the construction trucks will start rolling today.

Silverstein agreed to give control of the $2.1 billion Freedom Tower and another planned skyscraper to the Port Authority. He will still build three other towers at the site.

Officials said the deal ensures all five planned towers will be built by 2012.

On Wednesday in Washington, family members of those aboard United Flight 93 said Wednesday they were confident they would get federal funds to build a memorial where the plane crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, – despite opposition from a key lawmaker.

Rep. Charles H. Taylor, R-N.C., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department, has blocked funding to buy land for the memorial the last two years, and has expressed concerns about funding it when it comes before his committee next week.

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

Nine family members of those onboard were joined at a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., whose district includes the crash site, and Pennsylvania Republican Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum.

All three said they would fight to fund the memorial and were confident money would be available.