Berkley tries to paint Heller as enemy of seniors, Medicare

RENO -- Republican Rep. Dean Heller hasn't been sworn in yet as Nevada's newest U.S. senator, but it's not stopping his likely 2012 Democratic challenger, Rep. Shelley Berkley, from trying to paint him as an enemy of seniors who chooses tax breaks for oil companies over Medicare.

"Dean Heller and congressional Republicans are trying to destroy Medicare so they can give tax breaks to big oil," Berkley said Friday.

"This is a huge slap in the face to Nevada seniors," she told reporters at Washoe County Democratic Party headquarters in Reno as she courts voters statewide in preparation for the 2012 race.

Heller, a former secretary of state from Carson City, is serving his third term in the House. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval selected him earlier this week to fill the seat that will become vacant upon Sen. John Ensign's resignation effective Tuesday .

Berkley formally declared her candidacy for the seat a week before Ensign announced April 21 he was expediting his earlier plans to retire at the end of his term to avoid public Senate ethics hearings in the investigation stemming from his affair with a former aide.

Based on the tone of the rhetoric from both camps, it sounds as if the two current U.S. House members already are in the stretch drive of a head-to-head matchup for the next general election more than 18 months away.

"Shelley Berkley has voted in lock step year after year after year to increase the national debt, increase spending, and increase taxes," Heller's spokesman Stewart Bybee said in a statement responding to Berkley's criticism.

"It is actually sad that all Shelley Berkley has had to say since the moment she announced are negative attacks. I guess she knows her long liberal record in Washington is not something she can talk about in Nevada," he said.

Berkley, who is midway through her sixth term in the House, focused her criticism on Heller's vote earlier this month in support of the GOP-backed budget bill that cleared the House and is awaiting Senate consideration.

Crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., it proposes replacing Medicare with a government payment to buy private insurance for people hitting age 65 in 2022 or later.

The legislation also would repeal Obama's health care law, eliminating new help for seniors with high prescription costs.

Overall, backers say the GOP budget blueprint would cut $6.2 trillion from yearly federal deficits over the coming decade.