HARRISBURG -- A Democratic state senator has apologized for a crude term he used while talking to Republican senators late Wednesday during debate on proposed slot machine law changes, a spokesman for the senator said yesterday.

Sen. Vincent Fumo, a veteran legislator from south Philadelphia who is known to have a short temper at times, used an offensive slang word for gay males while talking loudly and angrily to some Republican senators on the Senate floor.

Fumo was irate because Republican leaders, who control the Senate, wouldn't allow Democrats to offer some amendments to a slot machine measure that was under discussion, spokesman Gary Tuma said.

Fumo temporarily lost his temper and uttered a negative term he shouldn't have, a word that many people find offensive, and he is sorry, Tuma said.

Late Wednesday, while still angry, Fumo had said that using the gay slur was a mistake, adding he should have called the Republican leaders "girlie men,'' a term used this summer by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to describe some California legislators.

Throughout Wednesday afternoon and evening, Fumo feuded with various GOP senators, especially Majority Leader David Brightbill, R-Lebanon, on the Senate floor and in a Rules Committee meeting in a room just off the floor. Brightbill, a conservative, is a strong opponent of slot machines, while Fumo is a strong advocate of bringing them to Pennsylvania.

Fumo and Senate Democratic leader Robert Mellow were trying to get the Republicans to consider some Democratic amendments to a bill proposed by Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, that banned a 1 percent investment by public officials in casinos and made several other changes to the slot machine law enacted in early July.

Republicans added provisions to the Pippy bill to give municipal zoning officials around the state some control over where casinos would be located. Republicans also made optional the use of slot machine suppliers and distributors, contrary to what the slots law passed in July says.

That law, largely authored by Fumo and his staff, makes mandatory the use of slot machine suppliers based in Pennsylvania. Fumo said that provision will create "hundreds of new jobs'' for Pennsylvanians.

Republicans said they were trying to correct what they see as problems in the new slots law, but Fumo charged they were "trying to screw it up any way they can'' by using amendments to the Pippy bill.

The Pippy bill was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate 49-1 late Wednesday, with Fumo the only opponent.

It now goes to the House, where the time for action isn't certain. House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, said he doesn't want gambling opponents to use the Pippy bill as an excuse to reopen the entire, lengthy debate on slot machines. That debate dragged on for 12 hours in early July.

The House might act on the Pippy bill in two weeks, or sometime in November, or not at all before the session ends Nov. 30. If the latter happens, the bill would have to be reintroduced next year.