National Republicans launch smear campaign against Slotkin over pandemic relief votes

Just hours after Michigan Democrats nominated U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin to run for retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s open seat, national Republicans began running ads on which they are spending millions of dollars to mislead voters about her record. 

Slotkin received more than 76% of the vote in the Aug. 6 Democratic primary and will face former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the November election.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has booked a $10 million independent expenditure campaign of television, digital, and radio ads aimed at electing Rogers. On Aug. 6, it released an ad criticizing Slotkin for voting for President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a law that provided $1,400 relief checks to Americans, expanded the child tax credit for the year, funded the safe reopening of schools, and sent grants to cash-strapped state and local governments. 

The spot claims: “Slotkin voted to provide nearly $1 billion of stimulus checks to prisoners. Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused over 500 women, received one of Elissa Slotkin’s stimulus checks. So did the Boston Marathon bomber.” 

The dark money group One Nation, which is aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnnell (R-KY), released its own ad on Aug. 7, part of a $9.4 million Michigan effort. It also attacks Slotkin’s pandemic relief vote: “Slotkin voted to allow COVID relief money to fund a luxury hotel in Florida, mountainside golf courses in Colorado, even a soccer stadium in New Jersey.”

The claims echo dishonest ads Republicans ran against Slotkin and other Democrats in 2022. 

Incarcerated Americans were eligible for relief checks under the 2021 law, as they had been under bipartisan 2020 pandemic relief laws signed by then-President Donald Trump. The Prison Policy Initiative, which advocates for criminal justice reform, noted that the relief checks helped the families of incarcerated individuals. “[M]any incarcerated people will be released soon (especially people in jail, where stays tend to be for short periods). Navigating the financial hurdles of post-incarceration life is difficult even in normal times” the group said in a May 2020 blog post. “Prisons and jails have shifted more and more costs onto incarcerated people — costs for things like hygiene supplies, medical copayments, and communication with loved ones. … [As] family members on the outside (who are often low-income to begin with) lose their jobs in the pandemic-induced economic collapse, families will be increasingly less able to send money to loved ones inside. Providing stimulus funds to incarcerated people helps protect the health and well-being of those behind bars and provides relief to their loved ones at home.”

The Treasury Department said in a May 2021 letter that any stimulus money sent to individuals convicted of crimes could be seized and put toward restitution. Indeed, courts ordered the funds sent to both Nassar and convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev be taken and disbursed to their victims.

The law contained no appropriations to hotels, golf courses, or soccer stadiums. Instead, it gave state, local, tribal, and territorial governments grants to use for their greatest financial needs. 

According to a March 2022 AP story, $6.6 million (less than 0.0019% of the total approved) was used by the conservative-leaning Colorado Springs, Colorado, city government to replace irrigation systems at a pair of golf courses. 

The all-Republican Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors put $2 million toward purchasing a ski resort, arguing in January 2022 that it would spur tourism revenue. 

A spokesperson for Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in March 2022 the $15 million spent on soccer stadium upgrades for the 2026 World Cup would bring the state millions in hospitality and tourism dollars.

A March 2022 analysis by the progressive Center for American Progress found that the American Rescue Plan “grew the economy, reduced poverty, and eased financial hardship for millions.”