Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) speaks to reporters as he arrives for the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Republican senator said on Wednesday he would strongly oppose any plan to make permanent the temporary individual tax cuts that are included in a tax overhaul recently passed by Congress.

“It’s transparently political and bad for our nation,” Senator Bob Corker told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He called the idea “grotesque.”

Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress are moving forward with a plan to vote, before the 2018 midterm elections, on a bill to make permanent the temporary individual tax cuts in their recent tax overhaul.

It is not yet clear, however, if the plan would pick up support from Democrats, whose votes would be needed to pass legislation in the Senate. Corker’s comments indicated that the plan would also face resistance from some Republicans.