Koch-backed group targets two Senate Republicans over spending in six-figure ad blitz

A conservative group backed by billionaire donors Charles and David Koch is set to launch a new ad campaign against Republican and Democratic senators who supported the $1.3 trillion federal spending bill earlier this year. 

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is putting six figures behind digital, mail and radio ads, which will drop in the home states of the senators as they return home for the July 4 recess.

{mosads}Those senators include Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Richard Burr (N.C.) and five Democratic senators who are up for reelection in November in states President Trump carried in 2016: Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Jon Tester (Mont.).

“The failure to cut less than a half a cent from every federal dollar spent is indicative of a rampant overspending problem that unfortunately often has bipartisan support,” said AFP spokesman Bill Riggs. “If these senators couldn’t even bring themselves to cut a sliver of unspent or expired funds, how can anyone expect them to take on our larger fiscal challenges?”

AFP is also sending a letter to lawmakers asking that they freeze spending for the next fiscal year.  

Though it has historically backed conservative causes, the Koch network has expressed frustration with the spending bill and the Senate’s rejection of Trump’s rescission plan to claw back $15 billion of it. 

Collins and Burr joined Democrats who voted against bringing the rescission bill up for a vote.

“Four trillion, that’s what Washington will spend this year. So, when politicians like Sen. Richard Burr say they’ll cut wasteful spending, they should keep their promise,” a narrator says in one of the radio ads.

“Instead, Burr was the deciding vote against President Trump’s modest spending cuts. A cut of just half a cent for every dollar. Now, Congress will waste even more. Let’s restore fiscal sanity. Tell Senator Burr — stop wasting our tax dollars.”

Last month, AFP launched a similar six-figure ad buy going after 10 Republicans and seven Democrats in the House for their votes on the spending bill.

AFP announced on Wednesday that it would run a seven-figure ad campaign touting Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) fiscal policies in Wisconsin.

The organization also announced it would commit another seven figures to back Trump’s nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of July.