Topeka ? Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson is endorsing the compromise on federal tax policy being pushed by President Barack Obama, an issue dividing their fellow Democrats.

Obama has struck a deal with Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate to prevent tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration from expiring at the end of this year.

Obama had often promised to end cuts for the highest earners, but he’s said he couldn’t get that policy through the U.S. Senate. Some Democrats in Congress are upset.

But Parkinson is praising Obama for reaching a bipartisan compromise, noting that the package will also extend unemployment benefits for jobless Americans.

The Kansas governor says the tax plan also will help middle-class families.