Steny Hoyer to health-care protesters: Hey, sorry for calling you un-American

“That was not a good phrase, not a good use of language, it was not correct,” Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said, adding that he did not see anything wrong with vigorous debating of philosophies.

In August, in the middle of a summer in which members of Congress were sometimes shouted down at town halls by constituents furious over the health care bill, Mr. Hoyer and Mrs. Pelosi wrote an op-ed article in USA Today decrying the tenor of the debate and complaining about baseless charges.

The leaders called the protests “an ugly campaign” and said it was clear some were trying to disrupt “a civil dialogue.”