WASHINGTON | U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky on Thursday expressed his support for the nonbinding House resolution that opposes sending additional troops to Iraq.

Visclosky, D-Ind., said President Bush has failed to listen to the American people, the Iraq study group or intelligence leadership on tactical approaches to the situation in Iraq. Calling it Congress' "constitutional responsibility to show the way," Visclosky urged House members to act on behalf of the troops.

"Our troops have done everything that has been asked of them," Visclosky said. "We owe them an equal commitment. Not just a commitment to the training and resources necessary to ensure that they can fight effectively and protect themselves to every extent possible.

"We owe them the courage to act on our convictions."

During his statement, Visclosky praised the many Hoosiers who have served overseas and recognized the nine members from Indiana's 1st Congressional District who died while serving.

Visclosky, who voted against the use of force in 2003, also expressed concern that the situation in Iraq has distracted the U.S. from the global war on terror.

"We have taken our eye off the ball when it comes to national security and keeping America safe," Visclosky said. "We need a strategic redeployment of our forces that will give us the ability to focus our efforts directly on the global terror networks that target innocent people around the world."

The 10-line House resolution has been debated on mostly partisan lines but has garnered support from a small group of Republicans. A recent attempt to debate the issue in the Senate, however, was blocked by the GOP, who said it wants other resolutions to be heard as well. A House vote on the resolution is scheduled for today.