Secret Memo Exposes Koch Network’s Congressional Scriptwriting Service
Inside AFP's Playbook to Influence Congress
Headlines:
Exclusive: Koch "Road Map" Reveals Americans for Prosperity's Plan to Influence Congress
Secret Memo Exposes Koch Network’s Congressional Scriptwriting Service
Bill-ionaires Club: Inside the Koch Network's Plan to Script Members of Congress
Lede:
Source Code obtained a private "road map" memo from Americans for Prosperity (AFP), prepared for incoming members of the 2025 Congress. The document reveals the Koch-backed group's aggressive strategy to shape Congress by supporting allied lawmakers and fostering "mutually beneficial" partnerships on Capitol Hill. AFP frames itself as an outsourced congressional office, providing legislators with pre-written bills and scripting talking points and hearing questions. Notably, the memo explicitly targets "combatting the rise of national conservatism," signaling potential ideological clashes ahead with MAGA-aligned Republicans.
The details:
According to the memo, AFP promises lawmakers a “personalized approach” with “customizable product options.” This support includes drafting legislation, writing talking points, preparing questions for "key committee hearings," and coordinating coalition letters and testimony.
The Koch-funded group intends to mobilize its powerful grassroots network and significant financial resources, partnering with conservative, industry, and corporate allies to back its friends in Congress, promising new members: "You may be new to Congress, but you’ll have seasoned partners and an extensive network coming together behind your ideas."
Why this matters:
According to New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer in her seminal book about the Kochs, "Dark Money," Americans for Prosperity operates at the center of a sprawling political influence network created by billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David. Mayer describes AFP as a pivotal organization through which the Koch brothers have channeled significant financial resources to support libertarian and pro-business agendas.
Although AFP seeks greater influence on Capitol Hill in 2025, tension between Trump and the Koch network runs deep. In 2018, Trump openly ridiculed the Koch brothers as "globalists" who were "a total joke in real Republican circles," adding, "I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas." That hostility intensified in 2024, when Koch-affiliated groups poured more than $30 million into Nikki Haley's primary campaign against Trump. The Hill reported in February that AFP staff are “essentially blacklisted” from working in his administration.
Despite this friction, AFP aggressively targeted President Biden’s economic policies during the 2024 presidential election. In March 2024, AFP launched an “eight-figure Bidenomics ad campaign,” spotlighting Biden’s tax and fiscal policy agenda and attacking supportive members of Congress. This project involved digital advertising, mail outreach, direct door-knocking, phone calls, and strategically staged grassroots events at gas stations and grocery stores to attract media coverage.
The memo describes AFP's strategic campaign to redefine "Bidenomics," successfully transforming the Biden administration’s positive branding into a shorthand for economic turmoil.
AFP has now launched a $20 million 2025 project, called “Protect Prosperity,” campaigning for an extension of the tax cuts in President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that are set to expire at the end of the year. The tax cuts have been described by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as being “skewed to the wealthy and corporations.”
Key Quotes:
“The secret to our success on Capitol Hill is the personalized approach we offer to every policy champion with whom we work. These capabilities will help you offer positive solutions, build successful coalitions, garner press attention, generate grassroots momentum in your home state, and secure significant legislative achievements."
“Working with our conservative, industry, and corporate partners, AFP has established itself as both a builder of winning policy coalitions and a trusted partner in contributing to the success of others. More specifically, AFP’s approach to coalitions is two-pronged: a 'meta' approach, which seeks to tackle broader and longer-term strategies (e.g., combatting the rise of national conservatism, administrative state landscape shifts), and a 'tactical' approach that activates partners for high-value, short-term policy battles. AFP’s coalitions capability is ready to stand alongside you and advocate the principled policies and legislation you put forth. You may be new to Congress, but you’ll have seasoned partners and an extensive network coming together behind your ideas."
“Building a free and open society where everyone can succeed requires leaders who are willing to stand against bad public policy while proposing and supporting solutions that create more opportunity for all. AFP believes in political accountability. We will go to your constituents and share your score with them because we believe that politicians should do what they promise to do."
“With nearly a million visits to our Bidenomics.com website, 294 million views of our Bidenomics videos on Youtube, over 600 events across the country, and 79,000 activations of the grassroots, AFP’s multifaceted approach flipped Bidenomics, a term coined by the administration, into a byword for failed economic policies."
If you are a reporter and want the full memo, email us at press@source-code.org or find us on Signal: SourceCode.23