Top fiscal conservative group targeting Biden’s infrastructure proposal with new campaign

A powerful, fiscally conservative and libertarian political advocacy group is launching a new seven-figure effort to drive opposition to President Biden’s wide-ranging infrastructure proposal that he’s trying to pass through Congress.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), in announcing their new campaign titled "End Washington Waste: Stop the Spending Spree," said on Wednesday their aim is to inform Americans about what it calls "the harms of the proposal, while offering positive alternatives."

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AFP has committed to more than 100 events across the country to take its message directly to voters, including rallies, town halls, door-to-door canvassing, and phone banks. And the group highlighted that its campaign includes a paid media component, consisting of direct mail, digital advertising, and what it says are other tactics.

The president formally announced his $2.3 trillion proposal – titled the American Jobs Plan - six weeks ago. The sweeping proposal aims to rebuild 20,000 miles of roads, expand access to clean water and broadband, and invest in care for the elderly.

"It's a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we've seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago," Biden said at the time.

The White House emphasizes that the proposal would create millions of jobs and ignite the fight against climate change. The proposal’s massive tab, which would be spent out over eight years, would be paid for over 15 years by raising the corporate tax rate, which was dramatically cut by the 2017 tax cuts, the signature domestic achievement of former President Trump’s tenure in the White House.

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While the president’s pushing for bipartisan support, Biden’s finding little backing from congressional Republicans, who are dead set against making changes to the Trump tax cuts and who disagree on what’s considered infrastructure. They’ve put forth their own proposal, with spending at less than half of what Biden’s proposing.

"President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar ‘infrastructure’ proposal is Washington waste at its worst – a partisan spending spree masquerading as road and bridge improvement," AFP president Tim Phillips argued in a statement. 

"Less than five percent of the $4 trillion dollars goes to traditional infrastructure, while the rest goes to a partisan grab bag of top-down ideas that will lead to fewer jobs, tax increases that hurt workers’ wages and crush small businesses, and a rigged economy that leaves everyone worse off," he emphasized.

Phillips charged that "handouts to benefit special interests, favors for labor unions that undermine workers’ ability to find employment, and unnecessary regulation – all paid for by historic tax increases – will only devastate our recovering economy."

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AFP said the first phase of their push will spotlight 27 House Democrats in 16 states, some of whom could face challenging reelections in next year’s midterms, or who are considering bids for statewide office. They are Reps. Tom O’Halleran of Arizona, Stephanie Murphy Florida, Carolyn Bourdeaux and Lucy McBath of Georgia, Cindy Axne of Iowa, Lauren Underwood Illinois, Sharice Davids Kasnas, Elissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens of Michigan, Angie Craig and Dean Phillips of Minnesota, Kathy Manning of North Carolina, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Andy Kim, Mikie Sherrill, and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Shrader of Oregon, Matt Cartwright, Brian Fitzpatrick, Connor Lamb, and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania,  Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Ron Kind of Wisconsin.