Republicans launch smear campaign against Casey over pandemic relief votes

A right-wing super PAC connected to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is spending millions of dollars on ads attacking Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey over his vote for President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a law intended to provide relief from the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The law 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 Senate Leadership Fund’s ads dishonestly claim Casey voted to send a COVID relief check to Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted in the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April 2013.

Casey is running for reelection against Republican former hedge fund executive Dave McCormick. Recent polls have shown Casey with a lead of between 7 and 9 points in a race targeted by national Republicans.

On Sept. 11, the Senate Leadership Fund released radio and television ads aimed at electing McCormick, whose name is not mentioned. 

The radio spot claims: “Bob Casey made sure COVID checks went to convicted felons. When reasonable people tried to stop murderers and rapists from getting checks, Casey voted no. Even the Boston Marathon bomber ended up with a big fat check.”

Incarcerated Americans were eligible for relief checks under the 2021 law, as they had been under bipartisan pandemic relief laws signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020. The Prison Policy Initiative, an advocacy and research organization that works on 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, a court ordered the funds sent to Tsarnaev be taken and disbursed to his victims.

In an August social media post, McCormick attacked Casey for supporting the rescue plan, writing, “No Senator was a bigger cheerleader for Kamala Harris’s reckless spending than Bob Casey.”

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.”