The Germans have no such ideological hang-ups. Because Big River Steel would be buying its steelmaking equipment from a German company, SMS Siemag AG, and because the deal would lead to German exports “while also safeguarding many qualified jobs for the exporter in Germany,” as a news release later put it, the German government was only too happy to insure the loans, through Euler Hermes.

So what happened on Feb. 1, 2013? On that day, the Arkansas Legislature was informed that Big River Steel had a new investor: none other than Koch Minerals, which is part of Koch Industries, the Koch brothers’ privately held industrial conglomerate. The Kochs, you see, had decided to take a 40 percent equity stake, making them the project’s biggest investor. In doing so, of course, the Kochs were taking advantage of the same “corporate welfare” they had long condemned — while relying on the kind of government credit agency they are trying to dismantle in America.

When I asked a Koch Industries spokesman about the company’s willingness to take advantage of tax incentives and other government goodies, he gave me the standard response to such queries. “Koch Industries has consistently opposed and actively lobbied against all forms of corporate welfare, including those we currently benefit from,” read an emailed statement. “With that said, we will not put ourselves and our employees at a competitive disadvantage in the current marketplace.” In other words, the Kochs believe there is nothing hypocritical about employing government subsidies they oppose.

But I’m not so sure. The Arkansas incentive package ultimately passed, the German government-insured loan was completed and the plant should be up and running next year. And thanks to the recycling tax credits, the Kochs will recoup a significant portion of their investment even if the mill never makes a penny in profit. Indeed, the Kochs’ involvement helped give Arkansas legislators the comfort they needed to approve the incentive package. It gave “validity to the project,” one state legislator told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“We don’t have the budget to hire people to do due diligence,” says Grant Tennille, who was then running the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. “If people like the Kochs walk in the door, with a reputation and money, that’s a big deal.” In other words, the Kochs didn’t just take advantage of corporate welfare; their involvement was the impetus for the corporate welfare Big River Steel got.