Following a speech in which Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) praised the Civil War-era efforts that resulted in her being a “freed slave,” Rush Limbaugh responded by asking “who owned and who sold” her.

The Hill reported that on the floor of the House of Representatives, Jackson Lee encouraged Congress to compromise in order to avoid automatic budget cuts. According to the article, “Jackson Lee suggested lawmakers should take inspiration from President Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War” before saying, “I stand here as a freed slave because this Congress came together. Are we going to be able to do it today to free America?” Limbaugh mocked Jackson Lee by “trying to find out who owned and who sold” her and “what they got for her”:

LIMBAUGH: We're not having much luck here, folks. We've been doing exhaustive research in the last four minutes. We're trying to find out who owned and who sold Sheila Jackson Lee and what they got for her. She just said on the floor of the House of Representatives mere moments ago this morning, and she was standing there as a freed slave because this Congress came together. I didn't think they were coming together at all, but she talked about the Congress during Lincoln. But anyway, she's a freed slave. Somebody had to own her, and I -- we don't know who.

Obviously, you know, with the makeup of culture today it didn't have to be Houston that -- the owner did not have to be where she lived, she could have been owned by anybody. What if a drug company owned her? You know, what if -- what if big oil owned her and she didn't know about it? Somebody freed her, though. We will keep looking to try to find out who owned her, who sold her, and what they got. I have to tell you, though, in all candor, I think she looks pretty good for her age. She's got to be over 110. You'd never know it.