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Campaign ad verify: Did Mark Kelly really waste money on an Iowa ski slope?

In TV ad, a claim is made against Mark Kelly regarding reckless spending in the Senate.

ARIZONA, USA — "Instead of helping my family, Senator Kelly and Biden want to keep spending more," the latest ad from One Nation reads. 

The ad is the fourth spot in a $5.2 million multi-week ad buy by One Nation, a conservative 501(c)(4).

Claim 1: Reckless spending? 

"Senator Mark Kelly voted for all of President Biden’s reckless spending.” 

The vote the ad references is from last March. That's when the US Senate passed the 1.9 trillion dollar American Rescue Plan Act.

That legislation included the last round of stimulus checks, continued expanded unemployment, and $350 billion to help state and local governments through the pandemic, among other priorities. 

The money in the American Rescue plan act was designed to be more flexible than previous legislation. A proposed amendment by Mitt Romney to restrict spending was defeated on a party liny vote. 

"Kelly voted for a $350 million slush fund that was intentionally broad in allowable uses, and given the chance to limit that spending to necessary COVID expenditures, chose not to," One Nation said in an email.

We can verify, that Senator Kelly did vote for the legislation, which passed without Republican support. Whether or not the spending was reckless depends on your view of the legislation. 

Claim 2: A Florida Hotel and an Iowa Ski Slope?

“They wasted money on a Florida hotel and Iowa ski slopes?” 

This claim comes from an AP investigation that looked into how some of the $350 billion set aside for state and local governments was spent.

Local municipalities in Florida and Iowa did use some of that money to build a hotel and buy a privately owned ski slope respectively. 

However, neither Biden nor Kelly specifically directed the money to go there. 

So, we can verify that as misleading. 

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