President Joe Biden Visits Portland, Highlights Infrastructure Funding

PORTLAND, OR — President Joe Biden arrived in Portland Thursday, declared his optimism that "America can do big things again" and vowed to keep investing in the country's infrastructure.

"We can do anything that we want want to," he told a crowd at Portland International Airport. "We must build a better a better America. It's been much too long since America invested in its airports."

A major focus of Biden's visit was the $25 billion funding going to airports, including PDX, as part of the recently approved bipartisan infrastructure law, according to the White House deputy principal press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.

PDX will receive $20 million this year alone to help upgrade the airport's south runway so that it will be accessible after an earthquake, Jean-Pierre said.

The president also talked about $34 million for improvements to the jetty at Coos Bay to make it easier for ships to navigate, money to replace lead pipes to improve water quality, and funds to improve roads and bridges.

Biden was joined onstage by Gov. Kate Brown; Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley; Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton), Peter DeFazio (D-Portland) and Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon City); and Lauren Holtzman, an apprentice electrician with Local 48 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Wyden told the crowd that when he conducts town hall meetings across the state, he often discussed the infrastructure improvements that Biden has helped bring to the state.

Biden fought "like hell to make this airport — perennially rated tops in the country — even better with supersafe seismic runways and a new roof made from iconic Oregon wood products," Wyden said.

After the stop at the airport, Biden went to the Portland Yacht Club for a fundraiser for the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund.

As Biden arrived, protesters at the club held up signs — including "Trump Won" and one that used an expletive in front of Biden's name. It's not known if the president saw them.

Supporters waved flags and held up their phones.

The fundraiser was originally scheduled for the home shared by two local Democrats with national profiles: Win McCormack, a major donor, and Carol Butler, a political consultant, according to sources familiar with the planning for the event who spoke to Patch on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The fundraiser was moved to the yacht club to accommodate a larger crowd, they said.

Tickets for the fundraiser, which sold out Wednesday, ranged from $500 to $36,500, the sources said.

After the fundraiser, Biden left Portland to fly to Seattle, where he will discuss the economy on Friday, the White House said.