President Barack Obama could have gotten Republican backing for a tax plan to cut corporate loopholes rather than setting up a fight with them over raising taxes, Sen. Ben Sasse told Fox News.
"This is just recycled talking points," the freshman Nebraska Republican
told Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto" prior to Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address. The White House has said Obama plans to seek $320 billion in tax increases on top income earners.
Obama could have sought the kind of tax reform that would have received bipartisan support, Sasse said. Republicans in Congress say Obama is asking for things he knows the GOP-majority Congress won't pass as a means to separate the two parties ahead of the 2016 presidential race.
"I think there are a lot of people in both parties who think there are too many loopholes and carve-outs and special exemptions for big corporate interests and for the politically connected," Sasse said. "But that would involve simplifying the tax code, not tweaking it and him saying here's another place to raise taxes. … I don't think middle class families believe that will ever benefit them."
Sasse called Obama's agenda a plan to grow Washington rather than grow the economy.
"When you grow Washington it doesn't go somewhere else, it's not a trickle down redistribution plan as he's pretending," he said.