Speaking three days before a midterm congressional election in which his Democrats are expected to suffer heavy losses, Obama said lawmakers had a “duty” to seek common ground.

“That’s why I found the recent comments by the top two Republicans in Congress so troubling,” Obama said in his weekly radio address, in which he urged Democrats and Republicans to work together on issues like extending middle-class tax cuts.

“The Republican leader of the House actually said that ‘this is not the time for compromise.’ And the Republican leader of the Senate said his main goal after this election is simply to win the next one,” Obama said, referring to Representative John Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell.