Sen. Johnson calls State of Union ‘excellent,’ bipartisan

• Sen. Tim Johnson

Sen. Tim Johnson

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Calling President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech “excellent,” Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said it is up to Congress to work with the White House.

“The president has done a good job working with Congress. It’s just a matter of staking out common ground. It’s difficult to do that,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “That’s not the president’s fault, it’s Congress’ fault.”

Johnson said Obama avoided issues that would divide along party lines.

“The president chose to talk about issues we could all agree on and avoided partisan discussions,” he said. “That’s the best way to avoid partisanship.”

Johnson said he hopes Congress can pass an extension of the payroll tax cut through the end of the year.

The tax is currently scheduled to expire at the end of February.

“If the tax cut expires at the end of February, millions of workers will see their taxes go up, and that will slow economic growth,” he said.

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