WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Democrat said Tuesday that tax rates on the wealthy should go up and that tax breaks benefiting the middle class must be preserved.

The move by Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, is a direct challenge to a traditional tax reform model that lowers tax rates for all and finances the cuts through a broad assault on tax breaks and loopholes. It came less than a month before Election Day.