NATION - A bill that would authorize $13 billion for Amtrak passed Wednesday in the House, setting the stage for possible clearance of the bill by the Senate before the session ends.

The House passed the measure (HR 2095) by voice vote, which implies that the chamber would vote to override a potential presidential veto. The Senate is likely to clear the bill easily; it passed an earlier version by a vote of 70-22 in October of 2007. President Bush had threatened to veto an earlier House version largely because of its cost.

The bill represents a dramatic departure from recent Amtrak politics. For fiscal 2009 alone, the bill would authorize close to $2 billion, compared with $800 million requested by the White House and the $1.7 billion sought by Amtrak itself.

Every year the Bush administration has presented Congress with budget proposals that would reduce Amtrak's authorized funding while calling for privatization of the operation. And each year, Congress has appropriated just enough to keep Amtrak limping along.

But now, with compromise language signed off on by House and Senate lawmakers, an Amtrak authorization bill is as close to becoming law as it has been in 11 years.

Although there has been no formal conference on the bill, House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on the measure Sept. 23.