ICYMI
SHELLEY BERKLEY AND NATIONAL REPUBLICANS AGREE: DEAN HELLER'S PLAN TO ESSENTIALLY END MEDICARE WOULD HURT SENIORS
New Report Shows National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Bankrolled TV Ad Attacking Dean Heller's Budget Plan That Would Essentially End Medicare
Las Vegas, NV - Today, the Nevada State Democratic Party is announcing that U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Berkley and national Republicans have found something they can agree on and it is that Republican Senator Dean Heller's plan to essentially end Medicare would hurt Nevada seniors.
According to POLITICO, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee funded the Montana Republican Party's tv ads touting their own Republican nominee for Senate, Dennis Rehberg's opposition to the Dean Heller plan that would essentially end Medicare.
Under the plan which Heller "proudly" voted for twice, Medicare would be turned over to profit-hungry private insurance companies, which would end Medicare as we now know it, and would also force seniors to pay $6,000 more in out-of-pocket health care costs. While Heller's plan may be a boon to Wall Street and private insurance companies, it would be devastating to Nevada's seniors.
"Finally, National Republicans and Shelley Berkley can agree on something, and it is Senator Dean Heller's scheme to essentially end Medicare by turning the program over to profit-hungry private insurance companies would be a disaster for Nevada seniors," said Zach Hudson, Communications Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. "It's no wonder that national Republicans have started to run away from a plan that would essentially end Medicare and increase seniors' out-of-pocket health care costs by over $6,000."
POLITICO: NRSC fueled Rehberg anti-Ryan ad, filings show
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS, July 20, 2012
My colleague Charlie Mahtesian wrote last month about an ad in Montana that features GOP Senate candidate Denny Rehberg touting his opposition to the Ryan budget plan.
The $200,000 ad buy was funded by the Montana Republican Party -- which received more than half a million dollars from the National Republican Senatorial Committee in June, when the ad started airing. Per the Huffington Post, the state party had only $40,000 in the bank at the end of May.
FEC filings from June show that the NRSC transferred a total of $540,000 to the Montana GOP. The NRSC declined to comment on whether they knew the money was going to the ad buy.
The situation shows that some Republicans recognize the Ryan budget is an often-polarizing issue that some GOP candidates may need to edge away from -- and that, in some races, that distance is okay.