Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf voiced a change of heart Tuesday in the Missouri House of Representatives.

The St. Joseph Republican apologized for his prior statements about slavery and a children’s health care proposal despite repeated refusals to do so.

Dr. Schaaf said as recent as Monday that he wouldn’t apologize for the comments, but the contrition came Tuesday several hours after a morning House ethics committee rejected, 6-4, a remonstrance resolution, or grievance, against him for his controversial comparison.

Dr. Schaaf’s speech also came several hours after he met privately with the only Democrat on the ethics committee who voted “no” on the remonstrance, Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia.

Here is Dr. Schaaf’s Tuesday speech in its entirety:

“I would like to speak about comments that I made on this floor on March the 25th regarding slavery.

“I wasn’t talking about the slavery of African Americans, a dark chapter in this nation’s history and something that I and everyone in this chamber abhors. I was talking about the economic slavery of the taxpayers by government. It is obvious that my comments were not taken the way I intended them to be taken and that some of my colleagues here in the House were offended and I know that I bear some responsibility for that. I could’ve done a better job communicating my message. I opened by speaking about President Lincoln and I think that was part of the reason why my intended message was received differently than the way I intended it to be.

“I initially refused to apologize because I do not want to give up my ability to speak about the economic enslavement of the taxpayers, something about which many well-known people have spoken. But I do believe I offended some members because of the clumsy way I made my impromptu floor speech and for that I am truly sorry and I apologize to those who were offended.

“At the same time, I forgive those who have since made hurtful comments about me. But my apology comes with a request. I am also asking my Democrat friends and my African American friends to please not be offended by nor to try to limit our ability in this chamber to have a discussion about the economic enslavement of the taxpayers by our government. It is a valid topic about which many Americans care and it is worthy of unemotional debate. Mr. Speaker, I will try to learn from what has happened and I hope we can all put this episode behind us.”

House Minority Floor Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, who filed the remonstrance, attempted to respond to Dr. Schaaf’s apology on the House floor, but leadership didn’t recognize him to speak.

The Democrat said that he would have told Dr. Schaaf, “Thank you for your comments on the floor and the clarification was needed.”

Mr. LeVota added, “To me, he’s not completely accountable to the things he said. He wants to revise it a little bit.”