By Katherine Hamilton
https://www.breitbart.com/author/khamilton/
Current Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) is hoping to snag a U.S. Senate seat in 2022 and has publicly shamed China for its communist ways within the past two years — seemingly aligning himself with the GOP’s “America First” priorities.
But when Schmitt was a Missouri State Senator, he took quite the opposite posture and looked to partner with China in the hopes of bringing a thriving enterprise to the state.
In 2011, Schmitt was one of the main proponents of Aerotropolis, more colloquially known as “China Hub,” a global cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport which he believed would increase exports and foreign trade.
Schmitt, who even visited China in the hopes of getting the plan off the ground, said Chicago was “maxed out” for China’s needs, and Indianapolis and Cincinnati were cities that hope to edge out St. Louis in making a run for the huge China trade, the Webster-Kirkwood Times reported.
“We need to be a player again,” Schmitt said. “We need to invest in our future and our infrastructure. We have a location and transportation assets that can put us on the map again and improve our economy.”
He partnered with St. Louis Democrats to push the bill forward, one which required the passage of an economic incentives package with major tax breaks, including as much as $360 million in tax credits for developers to build warehouses and establish the international deals.
Ultimately, “China Hub” did not receive the support it needed to come to fruition
“I actually think it was a win for taxpayers that Aerotropolis died,” said Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay at the time. “There was a lot of subsidy money on the line based on a wink and a nod from the Chinese that they would choose St. Louis to fly in cargo.
Before the bill failed, State Sen. Jeanne Kirkton, (D-Webster Groves) said she was leaning toward voting against it. She said:
If this is such a great idea, why isn’t the free market taking care of it? This will be a big boondoggle if China doesn’t come along. It seems strange to me that we are jumping to play nice with the communists and will just look the other way at their history of human rights violations.
At a time when we are cutting MoDot, mental health, education, higher education, seniors and health care in this state – we are going to find tax credit money to help China land cargo? I think we have obligations that we are not meeting in this state, so why would we build warehouses for China?
However, Kirkton said she “admire[d] the amount of work that Sen Schmitt has put into this idea.”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/04/u-s-senate-candidate-missouri-attorney-general-eric-schmitt-has-a-history-of-helping-communist-china/