Anti-infrastructure campaign rolls into South Florida as crucial ‘Build Back Better’ vote nears

As a make-or-break vote for the first chunk of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” infrastructure plan draws closer, a national campaign against it — “Stop the Spending Spree” — is rolling into South Florida next week.

Americans for Prosperity is coordinating a national campaign against the President’s spending plan on roads, broadband internet and other new government spending. It’s stopping in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday and then Miami on Wednesday.

“The Biden administration’s so-called ‘infrastructure’ proposal spends less than 5% on roads and bridges, and far more on placating Washington’s special interests,” Skyler Zander, AFP’s state director, said in a news release. “To pay for these egregious handouts, it calls for historic tax hikes that would slow the economy, hurt workers’ wages, and crush small businesses. We are looking forward to rallying with our grassroots activists against this massive government overreach.”

In April, the Washington Post rated that 5 percent claim with three Pinocchios, however. U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, an Orlando Democrat, tweeted this week that she’s looking forward to approving it.

“We must invest in America’s roads, bridges, transit, ports, electric vehicles, and high-speed internet. They’re drafting a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the Senate to do just that. Once it comes to the House, we should vote on it immediately,” she wrote on Twitter.

The $1 trillion measure to be rolled out over five years failed to come to a first vote on Wednesday. It looks to be headed for a vote on Monday, according to the Associated Press. A $3.5 trillion measure with more spending is expected to follow next month.

AFP says that one million people have registered their displeasure over the spending bill through their portal. That’s more than any other campaign the group has coordinated, according to its website. But they need more, group officials said.

AFP President Tim Phillips and Akash Chougule, the organization’s policy advisor, will be at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North on Tuesday to talk more about it. He will be at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Convention Center on Wednesday with Grover Norquist, a national figure who opposes all tax increases as president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Phillips says on AFP’s site that this is more than just a “big moment” in the country’s history — it’s an inflection point.

“Let’s make sure we can all look back and say at a key moment, we did our part,” he said. “We made our voices heard. We talked to our friends and neighbors and we posted on social media. We did everything we could to protect freedom and prosperity in this greatest nation on earth.”

The group, considered among the most influential of conservative organizations, is famously funded by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch.