How the Koch network created the Ex-Im fight. The issue had little audience until the billionaire brothers’ network stepped in.

Politico reports:

The fate of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, a federally chartered agency that Congress once routinely reauthorized without even a formal vote, has roiled conservative politics in recent months, dividing business-oriented Republicans from fiscal hardliners.

There's one reason for that: The Koch brothers and their allies made it an issue.

The vast network of conservative academic research programs, think tanks, messaging outfits and advocacy groups funded by Charles and David Koch and their mega-donor cohort put the obscure agency on the political radar and turned it into a litmus test on Capitol Hill.

Closing the bank, which provides financing to companies to cover unpredictable expenses associated with doing business overseas, became a battle cry among the House conservatives who forced Speaker John Boehner's resignation. Controversy over the bank stalled a major trade bill, sparked a nasty clash between Ted Cruz and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and led in June to the expiration of the bank's charter for the first time since its creation in 1934.

Laissez-faire vs. the rent-seeking coalition.