Emancipation Proclamation

Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, has apologized for linking efforts to expand government health care programs for children to slavery. After a heated committee hearing, the House ethics panel rejected a remonstrance resolution scolding Schaaf for his floor speech connecting the two issues. Schaaf's apology, delivered on the House floor, offered in expanation he had intended his words to be linked to the concept of economic slavery rather than the nation's historical connection to African slavery.