“That’s exactly the opposite of how he pledged to lead.”
“…he might have badly miscalculated by throwing his support to an impulsive president who appears to have forgotten the rural voters who put him in office.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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St. Louis Post Dispatch | Editorial: Bost’s steel-tariff support backfires as disaster looms for Illinois export farmers
April 19, 2018
Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro has some tough choices heading into the November election. He has been among President Donald Trump’s loudest cheerleaders for aluminum and steel tariffs aimed primarily at China. But now China threatens to hit back hard with American agricultural tariffs.
Does Bost stick with Trump and workers at Granite City Steel, or does he side with his 12th District’s 10,000 agricultural producers and urge the president to back off? The district covers the eastern side of the Mississippi from East St. Louis and Belleville all the way to Illinois’ southern border, encompassing much of the state’s richest farmland.
The outcome of his re-election bid will affect the GOP’s effort to retain control of the House. Bost got 54.3 percent of the vote in 2016 over a youthful and inexperienced Democratic opponent. This year, he’ll face St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, a Democrat with far more experience and name recognition.
Bost’s voting record in Congress could come back to bite him. He went into his second congressional term fully aware of the 12th District’s political divide. Instead of choosing the middle road of political compromise, Bost veered hard to the right.
Bost has voted in lock step with the Republican majority in 95 of 97 House floor votes since the 2016 election. That’s exactly the opposite of how he pledged to lead. In an interview with this editorial board before the 2016 election, Bost noted Southern Illinois’ long history of leaning Democratic and recognized the need “to reach across the aisle.”
He took strong issue with politicians who hold a conservative hard line and asked them rhetorically, “Don’t you understand that this government was built on compromise?” Having endorsed Bost, we have to ask the same question of him today.
In a March 27 Post-Dispatch op-ed, Bost took credit for helping persuade Trump to impose tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, saying he “took my concerns directly to the president in a White House meeting” in February. Because of Trump’s decision, he said, the U.S. Steel works in Granite City has restored 500 jobs.
But thousands of farmers are now worried about their livelihoods because of Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. A quarter of all the soybeans harvested in Illinois are sold to China, a $1.75 billion market for the state. China threatens to impose a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans. Trump has said farmers are “great patriots” who understand the larger issue.
Bost may have celebrated too early. His solid voting record with the GOP majority might help him with Republican hard-right voters. But he might have badly miscalculated by throwing his support to an impulsive president who appears to have forgotten the rural voters who put him in office.