WASHINGTON -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Monday he continues to serve as chairman of Amtrak and denied he has acceded to White House pressure to resign the rail job, according to a wire service.

He said published reports in recent days that he has decided to quit his Amtrak post "were completely news to me."

"I'm a workaholic. I've always had many responsibilities that I'm able to handle," said Thompson, who served 14 years as Wisconsin governor before joining the Bush administration.

Still, Thompson demurred when asked if he will stay at Amtrak for his full term, which ends in 2003.

"I'm not going to say that. ... There's been no final decision made either way," Thompson said in an interview after addressing members of the American Dental Association.

Then-President Clinton appointed Thompson to a five-year term on the Amtrak board in 1998. The seven-person board has selected Thompson as its chairman every year since.

The 1997 law that restructured the Amtrak board requires that "six of the seven individuals selected are not employees of Amtrak or of the United States." That leaves room for one member of the president's Cabinet.

During the Clinton administration, that slot was filled by Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who usually sent the head of the Federal Railroad Administration to Amtrak meetings on his behalf.

Slater's seat on the Amtrak board is now vacant, and it's up to Bush to fill it. The obvious candidate would be the new transportation secretary, Norman Mineta, but he cannot join the board as long as Thompson is on it.

Thompson has admitted in the past that he is feeling pressure to step aside from Amtrak.

"Until I'm ordered off, I intend to stay," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in January. But he added, "I'm receiving more opposition than encouragement for that position."

Asked Monday whether the White House would prefer that he give up his Amtrak seat, Thompson laughed and said, "I think you should ask them."

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan declined comment.

Amtrak officials say they want Thompson to continue in his post. Since 1998 he has filled a key niche for Amtrak's public and government relations -- a passionate defender of the national passenger railroad who is neither a Democrat nor from the Northeast.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, a Democrat who is vice chairman of the Amtrak board, said last week that losing Thompson "would be a tragedy" for the railway.

"There's always been a question over whether he could continue with both (jobs), but Tommy feels very strongly about Amtrak, and he's very committed," Dukakis said.