Randy Neugebauer says he called out 'baby-killer' as Stupak spoke on House floor

Updated 3:35 p.m. 3/22/10

By Paul Kane

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex.) acknowledged Monday that he yelled out "baby killer" toward Democrats during debate over a Republican abortion amendment in the final minutes of consideration of health-care legislation.

The backbench Republican from west Texas said he has apologized to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who was urging the House to vote down the amendment when Neugebauer made his outburst.

Neugebauer said Monday that the debate brought out too much passion in his disagreement with the deal Stupak struck with Obama and congressional leaders over abortion provisions in the legislation.

"In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase 'it's a baby killer' in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership. While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself," Neugebauer said in a statement. (Full statement at end of this post.)

The outburst drew immediate shouts of derision from Democrats in the House, but no Republican took ownership for making the comment and Neugebauer's GOP friends declined to identify him Sunday night.

Democratic aides, angered by the silence, linked the "baby killer" shout to some of the heated rhetoric voiced by tea party protesters at the Capitol over the weekend, which included slurs hurled at black and gay Democrats.

Neugebauer is an unlikely lawmaker to find the spotlight. Elected in a special election in the spring of 2003, his highest-ranking position is as ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee's Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee.

The "baby killer" moment served, in some ways, as a symbolic bookend to the infamous "you lie!" shout to President Obama by another little-known Republican, Rep. Joe Wilson (S.C.), last September before a joint session of Congress.

Obama's address that night kicked off his s personal investment in the legislative push to pass a health-care overhaul, a slow-building effort that culminated with Sunday night's vote.

The full House admonished Wilson for his actions, and he apologized privately to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- although he refused to do so in the well of the House. But the incident made Wilson into a conservative icon for a brief moment, and he raised more than $2 million in campaign contributions over a few short weeks in September.



Some colleagues defended Wilson last fall, noting that his charge was based on a controversial immigration provision in the bill, but there was no such defense from Republicans over this latest outburst.

That Stupak was the target particularly galled Democrats. His anti-abortion views made him a key holdout on the overall legislation, and he -- joined by more than a half-dozen Democrats -- supported the legislation only after reaching a deal with Obama to issue an order reaffirming the ban on federal funding for abortions. The lengthy, and often public, negotiations isolated Stupak within his caucus, but his colleagues never doubted his devout Catholic faith and his personal animus toward abortion.



So, after they had already approved the major piece of health-care legislation on a 219 to 212 vote, Democrats entrusted Stupak with the role of speaking in opposition when the GOP offered its lone amendment to a revisions package -- the Republican amendment being mostly a reiteration of Stupak's own preferred legislative wording to restrict abortions. As he rose to speak, the former state trooper from Michigan's Upper Peninsula received a standing ovation from many of his colleagues.



Stupak rejected the effort as a way to defeat the the entire revisions package, which was later approved and sent to the Senate, but in the middle of his speech, a shout was heard across the chamber: "Baby killer."

Nearly 15 hours later, Neugebauer stepped forward, issuing a statement saying his remark was "inappropriate."

Here is Neugebauer's full statement:

"Last night was the climax of weeks and months of debate on a health care bill that my constituents fear and do not support. In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase 'it's a baby killer' in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership. While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.

"I have apologized to Mr. Stupak and also apologize to my colleagues for the manner in which I expressed my disappointment about the bill. The House Chamber is a place of decorum and respect. The timing and tone of my comment last night was inappropriate."

