Michigan elections FAQ: Are Elissa Slotkin, Larry Nassar attack ads true?

• Ads attacking U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin connect COVID-19 stimulus vote with Larry Nassar and other criminals
• No COVID-19 relief bills excluded inmates from stimulus checks, including Trump-backed legislation supported by Republicans
• Nassar and other high-profile inmates were ordered to use stimulus checks to pay restitution for victims

A series of ads attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin claim she voted to award federal COVID-19 stimulus checks to convicted criminals like Michigan sexual abuser Larry Nassar and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The claims, put forward in radio and social media ads funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and One Nation (a super PAC aligned with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell), cite Slotkin’s vote on the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021. 

The law did not exclude prisoners from the stimulus checks, but neither did prior stimulus programs approved by Republicans, and Slotkin’s campaign is now accusing GOP groups behind the ads of “stale, false attacks.”

Slotkin is facing Republican Mike Rogers in what’s expected to be a hotly contested race to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy left open by outgoing U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Rogers’ campaign is not affiliated with the ads. 

Related:

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• Senate vote: Paths to victory for Rogers, Slotkin offer hope, peril in Michigan
• Michigan elections FAQ: Primary recap, Slotkin-Rogers and walk-up songs

The central claim of the ads is not new: Similar ads have been used against Democratic congressional candidates across the country since the American Rescue Plan Act was signed in 2021, according to FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, two nonpartisan fact-checking sites.

Bridge Michigan looked into this claim and continues to invite readers to ask questions about political advertisements and other political issues as part of our Michigan elections FAQ series, which includes a weekly live video show and written responses. 

Have a question? Submit it here. 

Inmates got stimulus checks under both Biden and Trump

Though it’s true that inmates who met eligibility requirements for the stimulus checks were not excluded from the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, they were similarly allowed to accept economic impact payments from previous COVID-19 relief plans supported by then-President Donald Trump and many congressional Republicans.

None of the COVID-19 funding directly distributed to individual taxpayers explicitly excluded inmates who otherwise qualified for the funds, including COVID-19 relief funding signed by Trump in March 2020. 

December 2020 legislation offering up to $600 in checks similarly did not exclude inmates from getting the payments.

Nassar, Tsarnaev didn’t benefit

Neither Nassar — who is serving a 60-year sentence for child pornography and also pleaded guilty in two Michigan counties to sexually abusing women and girls under the guise of medical treatment — nor Tsarnaev ultimately benefited from the COVID-19 relief checks. 

Court documents indicate Nassar initially received a $600 stimulus check in January 2021 and another $1,400 check in March 2021. 

All COVID-19 funds issued to Nassar and Tsarnaev were seized on court orders and redistributed to their victims.

Opposition and rationale

The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance in April 2020 suggesting any payments made to incarcerated people should be returned. 

But that guidance was challenged in court, and a federal district judge ultimately ruled that otherwise eligible inmates were entitled to stimulus funds that had been awarded under Trump. 

Republican lawmakers attempted to deny payments to incarcerated people in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act supported by Democrats, which offered eligible taxpayers up to $1,400 in payments. The amendment was defeated in the U.S. Senate — not the U.S. House, where Slotkin served.

At the time, FactCheck.org reported, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, argued that excluding inmates would harm family members and children who likely needed the money.

What Slotkin, Rogers say

Slotkin has represented many of Nassar’s victims in Congress and called for reforms stemming from investigations into law enforcement agencies’ handling of the case. 

Antoine Givens, a spokesperson for Slotkin’s U.S. Senate campaign, called the ads “stale, false attacks from national Republicans who are desperate to distract from Mike Rogers’ record of selling out to big corporations to enrich himself while Michiganders pay the price.”

When asked about the ads by Bridge Michigan in a Monday press call, Rogers told reporters that he believes it’s a “legitimate policy discussion” about how taxpayer dollars were spent.

“If you’re going to vote on something that is absolutely going to raise the cost of eggs and bacon and bread, then there ought to be a debate and a discussion about who should get that money and how they should get that money,” he said. “I think prisoners getting that money is a terrible idea.”