Wisconsin lawmakers had mixed reviews to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson taped a statement on Tuesday night’s address before the president gave his speech.

The statement was released through Johnson's office.

Johnson says the debt has piled up under President Obama's watch.

Johnson also says he has seen nothing to show the president is serious about solving the country's economic problems.

“In his efforts to divert attention away from his miserable economic record, he is targeting scapegoats in order to blame anyone but himself and his policies,” said Johnson.

Republican Congressman Reid Ribble had a different take. The 8th District Representative says he found some positives in the speech.

“I went in there trying to find out the things that I could agree with and there were several things that were a bit encouraging to me,” said Johnson. “Certainly he talked about small business regulatory relief and consolidation of some government agencies and programs. I thought those were all kind of steps in the right direction.”

Democratic Senator Herb Kohl released a statement saying, "We appreciate that the President is focused on the right things for our country: increasing our economic output and decreasing unemployment."

Kohl goes on to say in his statement, "I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to grow our economy and job market."

Kohl will only have the rest of the year to work on these issues. Last year he announced he is retiring and will not seek re-election.

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