This week has seen plenty a lot of activity in Congress about trade, but none of it involved any progress toward renewing the Export-Import Bank — meaning it’s very likely the bank will expire on June 30, for the first time in 81 years. The Washington Post reports:

The last-minute dash to finish work on fast track this week has pushed the embattled Export-Import bank to the very back burner. The bank’s charter is set to expire on July 1, and, despite a heavy push from big business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, and support from a strong number of lawmakers, Roll Call’s Emma Dumain reports there’s no authorization vote in sight.
“The bank is vilified by by the most fiscally conservative members of the Republican Conference — many of whom dismiss Ex-Im’s financing tools as little more than ‘corporate welfare,’” Dumain writes. “Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, is an Ex-Im ally, but he finds himself in something of a tough spot, wanting to support the bank’s existence but not wanting to run afoul of the majority of a conference that has mobilized in opposition.”

The Daily Signal’s Melissa Quinn has an interesting piece on the growth in opposition to Ex-Im over the last 20 years:

This change is the result of a growing interest in opposing corporate welfare. This time around, we’ve made it harder and much more costly to support cronyism — it’s especially visible in the number of lawmakers who would like to never have to vote on the issue one way or another.

But as I have said before, it would be a mistake to see this battle against Ex-Im, however well it’s going, as a key fight all by itself. It is not. The battle is better understood in the context of a broader rejection of government-funded privileges for a handful of connected actors. Everywhere we look, big business is teaming up with big government to destructive ends, and people are getting sick of it.

As such, I predict that opposition to Ex-Im is just the beginning of stronger opposition to cronyist programs. Lawmakers and lobbyists should be on notice: The era of rubber-stamp cronysim is over!