WASHINGTON (Reuters):

President George W. Bush was resigned to a stinging rebuke from the United States House of Representatives yesterday over his Iraq war policy and his decision to send more troops, the White House said.

The Democratic-controlled House was set to vote late yesterday on a symbolic resolution supporting U.S. forces in Iraq but opposing the Republican president's decision to send another 21,500 troops.

"Congress has a right to express its views," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Bush was holding his fire, prepared to fight any subsequent effort by lawmakers to cut funding for the war.

While the resolution would not force Bush to act, its supporters hope to pressure him to reverse course and start bringing U.S. forces home from the unpopular war in which more than 3,100 American troops have died.

'No more blank cheques'

"No more blank cheques for President Bush on Iraq," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared.

She warned the White House that the measure would be only the first of a raft of legislation on the war coming to the House floor.

The measure was expected to pass with support of virtually all of the House's 233 Democrats and possibly dozens of its 201 Republicans, many worried about their political fate should they keep backing the president on the war.

Opponents said Iraq was but one battle in a global struggle against Islamic radicals that the United States could not abandon. They also portrayed the resolution as an attempt to embarrass the president and his Republican party.