HARRISBURG — State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, this past week got into a heated exchange in the House of Representatives with a state representative from Philadelphia during a hearing related to a bill that would make English the official language of the state.

During a hearing of the House State Government Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Leslie Acosta, D-197th, of Philadelphia was speaking to Robert Vandervoort, who was testifying about the bill.

Metcalfe of Cranberry Township, the committee’s chairman, cut Acosta off while she was speaking, saying that she needed to pose a question to Vandervoort — who Acosta later characterized as a “white supremacist.”

In a video of the hearing, Acosta began her speech by speaking Spanish, saying “buenos dias” and introducing herself in the same language.

Metcalfe told her the questions had to be asked in English so everyone could understand it.

Acosta continued in English, saying that the bill is disruptive, divisive and “likely unconstitutional,” and said that English is already the primary language of the state — even for immigrants.

She continued for a bit before Metcalfe told her she was out of order, saying that time was limited and she had to ask Vandervoort a question. Acosta wanted to continue.

“I have two minutes,” Acosta said.

“You don’t have two minutes,” Metcalfe replied.

Acosta said she would get to her question, and said she had the right to speak before Metcalfe told her to stop.

Metcalfe in an interview said Acosta was disrespectful to the committee. She spoke during a question-and-answer session, and Metcalfe said he told committee members to respect the testifiers and the limited time that they had.

“When it came time for her, she launched into a very long story,” Metcalfe said.

He said that he was going to give Acosta time to speak later in the hearing, but she left before that happened.

After the hearing, Acosta went to the House floor to say Metcalfe was wrong to cut her off, saying she had a right to speak and express her opinion as an elected official.

“I want the record to report that I was silenced unfairly,” said Acosta, the first Latina representative in state history.

She said Vandervoort is tied to hate groups.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist and hate groups, Vandervoort is the head of Virginia-based ProEnglish.

The SPLC considers ProEnglish to be a “nativist extremist group.”

Metcalfe disputed Acosta’s characterization of Vandervoort as a supremacist. He said the SPLC is a “left-wing hate group.”

Although some of the groups the SPLC attacks are hate groups, Metcalfe said others are not hate groups. “They attacked all my testifiers (except the ACLU),” Metcalfe said.

He said that the SLPC has come out against English-only bills before, and has attacked Metcalfe in the past for his positions. He said it was wrong for Acosta and the SLPC to distract from the issue at hand by focusing on Vandervoort.

“That individual is the racist,” Metcalfe said. “Can’t we be colorblind when it comes to skin color?”

Metcalfe said he supported the English-only bill, saying that it will help immigrants better assimilate in U.S. culture and said it will protect taxpayers, since there will not be any money spent on translating official documents into other languages.