WASHINGTON ― Michigan U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar's office this week turned over copies of receipts for the more than $484,000 that he was reimbursed by the House of Representatives last year.

The office of the congressman had initially declined to provide receipts for the 21 transactions to The Detroit News last week, but did so after The News published an investigation Monday into how he used his $1.9 million congressional budget.

Spending data for the full year show the Detroit Democrat spent $930,000 in taxpayer money in 2024 or roughly half of his official expenses on TV, radio, billboards and other advertisements to promote himself last spring as he faced challengers in a Democratic primary election.

Thanedar has said the taxpayer-funded ads were unrelated to his reelection campaign and instead intended to generate calls from constituents who need help from the federal government.

The top vendor listed for these advertising expenses in 2024 was Thanedar himself: The House reimbursed Thanedar about $484,000 in the category of "advertisements," which the receipts indicate went to purchase ad airtime on broadcast TV, cable and streaming platforms including Detroit TV stations like WDIV (Channel 4), WXYZ (Channel 7) and WJBK (Channel 2).

The spending receipts reveal the types of ads the congressman spent the $930,000 in advertisements on: $684,800 went to ad placements on TV, cable, digital or streaming channels; $87,900 was paid to Lamar Cos. for billboards; $87,100 paid for radio ads or airtime; and at least $45,250 purchased internet ads from sites like Google and Facebook.

The receipts provided Monday by Thanedar's office largely line up with the transactions reported by the House with one exception.

Thanedar was reimbursed just $7,594 by the House for a $10,149 charge that his office says was by Graham Media Group, which owns WDIV, Detroit's NBC affiliate. The congressman's chief of staff, Linto Thomas, said the purchase by Thanedar was partially refunded by Graham at a later date, likely because the station was not able to run some of the TV spots he reserved.

The congressman said in a statement last week to The News that vendors sometimes required payment up front, but House rules only allowed him to use official dollars to pay for services after they had been provided.

“To bridge that gap, I’ve paid for some communications and gotten reimbursed later,” Thanedar said. “Everything is documented, with receipts, and goes through the utmost scrutiny by the House.”

Last week, Thomas told The News that compiling and releasing the receipts for Thanedar's reimbursements would be a "heavy lift."

The congressman's use of taxpayer money on TV and radio ads, billboards and text messages is all permitted under House rules. So was the $84,000 in official funds that Thanedar spent last year to send tens of thousands of mailers to constituents through the U.S. Postal Service ― another perk of what's known as the franking privilege for members of Congress.

All franked ads and mailers are subject to review by a bipartisan commission that is supposed to check the content to ensure it's limited to a lawmaker's official business "representational duties" and includes no overt campaign material urging support for their reelection.

Thanedar ranked No. 1 among all 435 U.S. House lawmakers for spending last year on advertisements with his official budget.

Over a few weeks last spring, Thanedar burned through more than 20 times what the average House member spent on advertising for the year, which was $44,710, according to an analysis by the website Legistorm, which tracks congressional data.

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