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WASHINGTON, Jan. 31-- In his maiden State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump touted his first year in office, while pitching his second-year agenda as he pinned hope on bipartisanship amid an intensifying political divide in Congress. Trump's nearly 90-minute speech, which included pitches for an infrastructure plan, an immigration overhaul, and calls for unity and bipartisanship, received a mixed response from politicians and scholars. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a tweet that the president "laid out a clear agenda" in the speech with "an open hand toward bipartisan cooperation." Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas described the speech as "very strong" in an interview with Fox News, while lashing out at the Democrats for their stone-faced reactions. "After a long and divisive year, many Americans were yearning for the President to present a unifying vision for the country," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a tweet. "Unfortunately, his #SOTU address stoked the fires of division instead of bringing us closer together," the Democratic senator of New York added. A considerable part of the president's remarks focused on the U.S. economic growth in the past year, including the high stock markets and low unemployment, but Schumer said that Trump "owes a lot of it" to his predecessor, Barack Obama. Immigration was a major policy area that Trump detailed in the speech. | 
