President Obama must stick to his guns and refuse to concede on extending the Bush tax cuts to the highest income bracket, according to Sen. Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell BrownMnuchin says he and Pelosi have agreed to restart coronavirus stimulus talks Harris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Remote work poses state tax challenges MORE (D-Ohio).

Speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball" on Friday, Brown said Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGOP senators pan debate: 'S---show,' 'awful,' 'embarrassment' 'One more serious try' on COVID-19 relief yields progress but no deal The Hill's Campaign Report: Debate fallout l Trump clarifies remarks on Proud Boys l Down to the wire in South Carolina MORE (R-Ky.) and Speaker-elect John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) have shown they have no interest in anything but the failure of the Obama administration, which is why he shouldn't make major concessions to them on the tax cuts.

Brown argued GOP leaders have done nothing but say no to President Obama since the day after his inauguration despite his much larger electoral victory, which is why the Democrats shouldn't be afraid to respond in kind.



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"I'm not saying no to the Republicans, but I'm also not -- I'm also saying we're not going to do more tax cuts for the rich, more deregulation of Wall Street, more job-killing outsourcing free trade agreements," Brown said. "Those things don't work for the American public. They don't work in Cleveland or Toledo or Mansfield or Dayton, and they don't work for the whole country."

Brown also disputed reports of infighting in the Democratic caucus and denied that liberals view the president as weak. He argued Obama must do more to draw the distinction between the two parties and claimed the GOP has slapped the president's hand whenever he has reached out to them.



"Whenever you lose an election, there's second guessing, there's disappointment, there's anger, there's anxiety, there's, How are we going to face the next few months?" Brown said. "The president will lead. The president's strong. The president needs to step up and make the distinction better."

Brown pushed for Obama to take a leadership role on policy involving trade, jobs, healthcare, budget and taxes to differentiate himself from the GOP. He said he would be happy to run on a platform in two years similar to the one that first got him elected in 2006 and vowed notto vote to extend the tax cuts to the wealthiest tax bracket regardless of the political landscape.

