Rep. Sullivan apologizes for suggesting budget will only pass the Senate if he kills 'a couple of' Democrats there

A House Republican’s office was forced to apologize Thursday for suggesting the only way to get Senate Democrats to pass a budget would be holding a gun to their heads and “maybe killing a couple of them.”

Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) was expressing his frustration with the Senate for not “taking up” House-passed bills to constituents in Oklahoma earlier this week in an audio clip obtained by the site Talking Points Memo (TPM).

“Now I live with some senators, I yell at them all the time, I grabbed one of them the other day and shook him and I’d love to get them to vote for [Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget bill] — boy I’d love that,” he said. “You know, but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their head and maybe killing a couple of them, I don’t think they’re going to listen unless they get beat.”

Sullivan said the “first order of business” after the November election — which he hoped would mean a leadership change in the Senate — would be to take up a budget.

Sullivan’s spokesperson, Vaughn Jennings, sent an apology to TPM on Thursday, citing a “poor choice of words.”

“Millions of Americans are hurting — the congressman feels their pain, and does not want his comments to deflect attention away the serious issues our country faces today, and he certainly does not condone any form of violence as a means to fix what is broken in Washington,” Jennings told TPM.

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