Biden: Public works plan can boost US that’s ‘fallen behind’

By JOSH BOAK and WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Joe Biden opened a two-day visit to the Pacific Northwest by focusing more on the airport where he landed than on any of the region’s traditional, natural attractions. The Portland International Airport, which lies on a tectonic plate fault line, is planning a new, earthquake-resistant runway. The trip is Biden’s first as president to the Northwest and comes as he has increased travel across the U.S. to tout the $1 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure bill his administration backed and Congress approved last fall. Biden has been to Iowa, North Carolina and New Hampshire, and flew to Seattle after Oregon.