WASHINGTON Eight months ago, in a massive political shift, control of Congress switched from the Republicans to the Democrats.

But one thing didnt change: Congressional support for that perennial financial sinkhole known as Amtrak.

Late last month, the House rejected moves by conservatives to cut taxpayer subsidies for Amtrak as backers of the money-losing passenger railroad cemented their position in the Democratic Congress.

By a 328-94 vote, House lawmakers emphatically rejected a move by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., to eliminate Amtrak's operating subsidies. Flake argued that subsidies of more than $400 per passenger on the most inefficient money-losing routes demonstrate that cross-country train travel doesn't make economic sense anymore.

Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., the chief sponsor of the underlying $104 billion transportation and housing appropriations bill, credited Amtrak for squeezing savings of almost $100 million a year from reforms such as more efficiently deploying sleeping car service and curbing food service costs.

"There is not any passenger rail system anywhere in this world that operates without some operating subsidy," said Olver.

But conservatives said that after 36 years in business, Amtrak should not cost taxpayers almost $1.5 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

Calling Amtrak a "colossally losing investment," Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said Congress "should stop pouring good money after bad."

Bachmann lost a 308-110 vote on a bid to transfer $106 million from Amtrak to grants to local governments and housing authorities to house the homeless.

The Bush White House has sought big cuts in Amtrak subsidies for years, only to be rebuffed by the then GOP-controlled Congress. So, it is no surprise that with Democrats now in control Amtrak's subsidies survive.

Amtrak runs trains through almost every state, which gives it great support among lawmakers despite criticism of its high labor costs and excessive subsidies on its cross-country trains.

The worst example is the iconic Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Los Angeles. It loses 62 cents per passenger mile, according to Amtrak's latest available monthly report. Congressional votes to kill the route invariably go down to defeat.

Meanwhile, a major political fight is shaping up for this fall and winter over the fiscal 2008 federal budget.

The White House is threatening to veto the transportation and housing bill for exceeding President Bush's request by $3.4 billion, and lawmakers are increasingly concerned that many -- if not most -- of the 12 annual spending measures won't get passed into law until late in the year as part of a foot-tall omnibus bill.

Democrats say their differences with Bush over the portion of the budget Congress passes each year is just over $20 billion, about 2 percent of that so-called discretionary budget. And they say many of the increases in the pending bill are being used to reject politically unrealistic spending cuts to programs such as Amtrak, housing and community development grants.

The measure also contains almost 1,500 pet projects requested by lawmakers such as roads and bridges, as well as community development projects such as building a YMCA in Killeen, Texas, and demolishing abandoned buildings for a redevelopment project in Waterbury, Conn.

In the Senate, debate started on a $37.6 billion measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The bill was the first appropriations measure to reach the Senate floor.

The Senate measure also faces a Bush veto threat for exceeding the White House request by $2.3 billion, most of which goes to homeland security grants to state and local governments.