PORTLAND, Ore. — President Joe Biden made his first trip to the Pacific Northwest as president, visiting Portland on Thursday before flying to Seattle.
The president arrived at Portland Air National Guard Base near Portland International Airport early Thursday afternoon. He delivered a speech about infrastructure inside an airport hangar and attended a fundraiser at the Portland Yacht Club before leaving Portland shortly after 4:30 p.m.
KGW provided on-air and streaming coverage of Thursday's visit, including Biden's arrival and departure and his remarks in between.
Portland has a long and at times tumultuous history of presidential visits, but it's been a while since the last one, when then-President Barack Obama dropped by in 2015. Biden himself also visited one year earlier, when he was vice president.
Here's everything you need to know about Biden's visit:
Why was Biden in Portland?
The official reason for Biden's visit was to talk infrastructure. The White House said last week that Biden would speak about "his administration's efforts to continue bringing down costs for American families and growing our clean energy economy."
Biden's speech touted the $1 trillion infrastructure package that he signed into law last fall, which is set to provide billions of federal dollars to Oregon and Washington. The speech mentioned investments to make Portland International Airport run smoothly, including a planned upgrade to make one of the airport's two runways seismically resilient.
The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program is one of the highest-profile investment candidates in the region and also received a shout-out.
On the last report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the state of Washington received a C grade. Oregon received a C-. Other states didn't fair much better, as the nation's infrastructure increasingly ages.
Washington is expected to receive about $1.8 billion for road projects from the infrastructure package, while Oregon will get $1.2 billion over five years. Like the I-5 bridge replacement, the Rose Quarter highway redesign will likely be a candidate to receive those federal dollars.
Where did Biden go in Portland — and how long was he here?
Biden was in town for about four hours starting early Thursday afternoon. Biden arrived at the Portland Air National Guard 142 Fighter Base next to Portland International Airport on Thursday around 12:40 p.m. and then gave the infrastructure speech at the airport at around 2:30 p.m.
Biden also attended a fundraising event at The Portland Yacht Club, which is about one mile west of the airport along Northeast Marine Drive. Biden then returned to the airport, where he departed for Seattle, the next leg of his trip, around 4:40 p.m.
