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The Koch brothers oversee Koch Industries, a Kansas-based industrial conglomerate with interests in everything from oil pipelines and iPhone components to Brawny paper towels and Lycra gym wear, and they are among the country's richest men and biggest players in Republican politics. The new information about their 2016 political spending comes as Koch Industries' private-equity arm, moves to put up $650 million to help media company Meredith Corp. buy Time Inc., which publishes Time magazine. Koch spokesman Steve Lombardo this week cast the deal as a "passive investment" that does not give the Kochs a seat on the board or a management role. More: 'God gave us one more chance' with Trump, Koch donor says The tax filings, posted on Freedom Partners' website, show the group channeled $48.7 million last year to its largest grassroots arm, Americans for Prosperity or AFP. AFP has chapters in 36 states and now is helping lead the network's push to urge Congress to pass a sweeping rewrite of the tax code before year's end. Big sums also went to other groups in the network, including its veteran-focused arm, Concerned Veterans for America ($12.6 million), its Hispanic outreach group, Libre Initiative ($7.6 million) and a group targeting millennials, Generation Opportunity ($4.6 million). The tax return underscores the political might of Kochs, who held their first seminar in 2003, and have built a privately run policy and political network that rivals the Republican Party's fundraising and organizational strength. The network is on pace to spend even more — nearly $400 million — on national and state politics and policy during the two-year, 2017-2018 cycle, officials say. The new filings also offer a snapshot of the Kochs' behind-the-scenes financing of other groups working to influence policy and politics at the state level. Another $450,000 went to the Coalition for a Stronger West Virginia, which has backed tax cuts and reducing regulations in the state.