Updated at 10:42 p.m. Tuesday, July 25, with comments from Maine Sen. Susan Collins.

WASHINGTON — Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold expressed frustration with female senators over the stalling of the Senate health care bill and suggested he would handle the situation with a duel, if they were men.

“The fact that the Senate does not have courage to do some of the things that every Republican in the Senate promised to do is just absolutely repugnant to me,” the Corpus Christi Republican said Friday on KEYS-AM (1440).

“Some of the people that are opposed to this — there are some female senators from the Northeast,” he added. “If it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style."

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Burr, then vice president, shot and killed former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel July 11, 1804, in Weehawken, N.J.

Efforts to pass a repeal-only bill were effectively doomed last week when Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., confirmed they would not support it.

But on Tuesday, Collins was caught on an accidental hot mike after an appropriations committee markup expressing her thoughts on the congressman.

"Did you see the one who challenged me to a duel?" she asked a male senator, later confirmed to be ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

"Do you know why he challenged you to a duel? Because you could beat the s*** out of him first," Reed responded.

"Well he's huge, and I don't mean to be unkind but he's so unattractive it's unbelievable," Collins said. "Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to a bunny, a playboy bunny?"

MALE SENATOR on FARENTHOLD: "You could beat the shit out of him."



SUSAN COLLINS: "He's huge ... he's so unattractive, it's unbelievable." pic.twitter.com/hyw6fKU15E — JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 25, 2017

Collins was referencing photos of Farenthold in duckie pajamas from a pajama party that he attended at a local bar in 2009. Audio of the hearing has since been taken down.

The Maine senator issued an apology Tuesday afternoon. "Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to solve legislative disputes," Collins said in a statement.

"I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology, and I offer him mine," she added.

Sen Collins says she has apologized to Rep @farenthold for calling him "so unattractive it's unbelievable," & he has apologized to her: pic.twitter.com/nCUyVQcYvo — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 25, 2017

Farenthold made no mention of challenging any of the male GOP senators who have opposed the bill at various points -- Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Dean Heller of Nevada, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, or John Hoeven of North Dakota.

"Like the President, I am sick and tired of the left-wing biased media trying to make something out of nothing," Farenthold said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. "This was clearly tongue in cheek."

"That being said, I'm extremely frustrated with Senate Republicans who are breaking their promise to the American people to repeal and replace Obamacare," he added.

Farenthold has been criticized for insensitive commentary in the past. In October, the congressman told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that old recordings of Donald Trump making lewd sexual comments would not be enough for him to rescind his support.

.@farenthold on if he'd revoke support for Trump if he said "I like raping women" -- "It'd be bad...I'd consider it" https://t.co/jWCZ1YERYl — All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) October 12, 2016

Even in the hypothetical case of Trump making statements confirming rape, “that would be bad, and [he] would have to consider” rescinding his endorsement, Farenthold said.

He later tweeted a three-part apology.

I apologize for my failure to immediately condemn anyone who would say something as outrageous as they like raping women. (1/3) — Blake Farenthold (@farenthold) October 12, 2016

During an interview on MSNBC with Chris Hayes tonight, I was thrown off by the anchor’s use of a hypothetical question. (2/3) — Blake Farenthold (@farenthold) October 12, 2016

I do not, and have not ever condoned rape or violence against women. That is not the kind of man I believe Donald Trump to be. (3/3) — Blake Farenthold (@farenthold) October 12, 2016

The congressman also faced sexual harassment allegations from his former communications director, Lauren Greene, in 2015. Greene accused him of making sexual comments to her, telling other office staffers about his sexual fantasies about her, and firing her after she reported being bullied by the chief of staff.

Farenthold denied the allegations, saying she was fired for poor performance and lying about coming in late to work. The case was dismissed after several months of mediation.