COLUMBIA - The Dixie Chicks can add S.C. Republicans to the list of former fans infuriated when the lead singer told a British audience she was ashamed President Bush was from her home state of Texas.

But S.C. Rep. Catherine Ceips of Beaufort, home to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, has an idea for how the country crossover band can make it up to the Palmetto State's troops.

Ceips plans to introduce a resolution in the state House this morning asking the band to apologize and perform a free concert for S.C. military families before the Chicks kick off their U.S. tour in Greenville on May 1.

"We're all working hard with the families, and for something to be said like this, you just don't appreciate it. It was unpatriotic," Ceips said.

Ceips appears to have plenty of support. S.C. Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson issued a statement backing Ceips' resolution.

"After what they said over there, the Dixie Chicks owe it to our troops over here to do more than just apologize," Dawson said.

Lead singer Natalie Maines' foot-in-mouth statement, criticizing Bush's policy on Iraq, has enraged fans across the country. The singer apologized last week, saying she was sorry for being disrespectful. "As a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers' lives are lost," she said. "I love my country. I am a proud American."

South Carolina faces a daunting budget shortfall and its mental health care system is in crisis, but Ceips said she couldn't let the Dixie Chicks' remark pass her by.

"It's not going to take a lot of time for this," she said. "We will never turn our backs on the military in the state of South Carolina. This is a small thing compared with what those families do every day."

Ceips said she was a fan before hearing about Maines' remark. "I could not believe it. It broke my heart," she said. But despite their sour feelings, she thinks military families will still want to hear the band play.

"I'll even sing a song with them if they come," she promised.

Dixie Chicks representative JoAnn Burnside said she hadn't heard of the S.C. resolution before learning about it from a reporter. She didn't know whether the band would play if the resolution passed. "We'll have to talk to them about it," she said.