Berkley challenges Heller on payment to seniors

Rep. Shelley Berkley today invoked Social Security for the first time in her campaign for U.S. Senate, criticizing Sen. Dean Heller for a vote last year on a payment to senior citizens.

Berkley noted Heller voted against a Democratic proposal in December that would have written $250 checks to seniors after Social Security failed to pay a cost-of-living adjustment for the second consecutive year.

"Then-congressman Dean Heller stood with the Washington Republican leadership instead of Nevada seniors," Berkley said in a conference call with reporters.

Berkley said Heller compounded the sin by issuing a statement last month praising a 3.6 percent cost of living adjustment for 2012.

"Now that Dean Heller is running for the Senate he is changing his tune. Have you forgotten your own record, Dean?" Berkley said. "You should have voted with me."

Heller, through spokesman Stewart Bybee, responded there was no comparison between Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and the $250 checks that were sought by Democrats.

"First and foremost, Dean Heller has never voted to cut Social Security and has always worked to strengthen and protect the program," Bybee said. "This politically motivated bill endangered the future of Social Security by borrowing $14.3 billion out of the system. Senator Heller has advocated for an increase in the COLA, not legislation that jeopardizes benefits for current and future Social Security recipients."

The legislation last fall was launched by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., after the Social Security Administration last October announced inflation was too low to trigger the automatic COLA for 2011.

Democrats said price increases on food, heating oil and prescriptions -- items important to the elderly -- justified offering a one-time $250 payment to 54 million beneficiaries.

"Now, for those at the very bottom, this means a lot -- about a $20 a month cost-of-living adjustment to help them with those higher costs," Pomeroy said.

During the Dec. 8 debate on the House floor, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, said the $250 checks represented an end run around Social Security formulas, and would have dented the federal deficit by an additional $14 billion.

Johnson said Social Security beneficiaries had received a $250 check a year earlier through the economic stimulus law even though inflation had not called for an increase.

"Though seniors are understandably disappointed, the COLA formula is working as intended," Johnson said. "While many seniors are hurting, so too are American working families."

The House ended up voting 254-153 for the payments. But while the bill got majority support, it failed to pass because then-Democratic leaders chose to bring it up under a fast-track procedure that limited debate and prevented amendments but required a two-thirds majority for passage.

Johnson said the ground rules prevented Republicans from offering their own legislation as an amendment. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., had introduced a bill that would have granted $250 checks to Social Security beneficiaries and veterans but would have paid for them by rescinding unspent stimulus money, an offset that was a nonstarter for most Democrats.