The BulleTin • Wednesday, March 31, 2021 A13
Biden to unveil $2 trillion infrastructure plan
BY LISA MASCARO, JOSH BOAK
AND JONATHAN LEMIRE
The Associated Press
Beyond roads and bridges,
President Joe Biden is trying
to redefine infrastructure not
just as an investment in Amer-
ica the place, but in its workers,
families and people.
The first phase of his “Build
Back Better” package to be
unveiled Wednesday in Pitts-
burgh would unleash $2 tril-
lion in new spending on four
main hard infrastructure cate-
gories — transportation; public
water, health and broadband
systems; community care for
seniors; and innovation re-
search and development, ac-
cording to people familiar with
the proposal.
Those would be paid for by
permanently raising the corpo-
rate tax rate from 21% to 28%,
the people said, which would
Restaurants
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Swigert and other restau-
rant owners say the difficulty in
finding employees is caused by
a combination of factors. One
is the seismic shift in Bend’s
economy, which has diversified
in recent years, with more em-
ployment in tech and medicine.
“A few years ago it was kind
of fun to work in a kitchen and
flip burgers and make 15 or 16
bucks an hour, but nowadays,
they are just picking other jobs,”
said Swigert. “There are just
different ways to make money
in Bend now than there was a
few years ago.”
Federal stimulus that has ex-
Vaccine
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“It isn’t a high enough num-
ber for a medical center,” Chi
said. “A medical center should
have a higher vaccination rate.
It says that the health profes-
sionals are not fully accepting
of the vaccine.”
In a survey of 390 De-
schutes County residents,
county health officials asked
if residents were likely to get a
COVID-19 vaccine when one
became available. In an early
March survey, 49% said they
were very likely to get a shot
in the arm and 31% said they
were very unlikely, according
to the survey. The top reason
for not getting a vaccine, ac-
cording to the survey, was be-
cause the vaccine was too new
and long-term effects were un-
known.
Nationwide, according to
a Pew Research Center study
published in December, 60%
of Americans said they would
definitely or probably get a
vaccine for the coronavirus, if
one were available today, up
from 51% who said this in Sep-
tember. About 4 in 10, or 39%
said they definitely or probably
would not get a coronavirus
vaccine, according to the same
study
“Hospitals and health cen-
ters are where our most vul-
nerable Oregonians are, and
unwind the lower corporate
rate put in place by the Trump
administration.
The next phase would fo-
cus on soft infrastructure in-
vestments in child care, family
tax credits and other domestic
programs, paid for by tax hikes
on wealthy individuals and
families, they said.
Swelling to $3 trillion or $4
trillion, Biden’s new package
proposes a massive investment
on par with the Franklin Roo-
sevelt’s New Deal or Lyndon
Johnson’s Great Society. Taken
together, the administration’s
approach is transforming the
old ideas of infrastructure in-
vestment into a 21st century
concept that includes devel-
oping the human capital of
America’s population.
“He’s talking about physical
infrastructure and we’re talking
about human infrastructure,”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the inde-
pendent from Vermont who is
chairman of the Budget Com-
mittee, said Tuesday.
The president is set to de-
liver a speech Wednesday out-
tended unemployment bene-
fits is another factor in keeping
people away from work, em-
ployers say. Anthony Avraam,
general manager of the Pine
Tavern restaurant in downtown
Bend, says the government has
become a competitor for the
hiring pool.
“It’s becoming harder to con-
vince people to take that intro-
ductory-level position,” said
Avraam. “It was tough before
all of this, but unemployment
exacerbated it.”
Katy Brooks, the chief execu-
tive officer of the Bend Cham-
ber of Commerce, said some
people in Bend are earning as
much or more money from un-
employment, with the addition
of federal aid, than they would
be if they were at work.
“This situation will change
dramatically on Sept. 1 when
these benefits run out,” said
Brooks. “In the meantime,
some employers are struggling
to fill positions and are short-
staffed as they reopen and pre-
pare for the tourist season.”
Without enough available
bodies in Bend, Avraam said
he has started advertising for
workers in Portland and other
cities in Oregon.
Avraam currently employs
a staff of around 45 people but
needs another 20 for the busy
summer season. He holds out
hope that recent arrivals in Bend
will beef up the labor force.
we have to protect them,” said
Jonathan Modie, an Oregon
Health Authority spokesman.
“OHA strongly recommends
vaccinations for the health and
safety of the community.
“We’re not out of the woods
yet. A lot of people have been
vaccinated in Oregon, but many
have not. Almost everyone has
been affected by the pandemic:
either a family member or a
friend has gotten sick, people
have not visited loved ones, or
not been able to travel. It’s diffi-
cult for everyone.”
Under Oregon law and Ore-
gon Health Authority and Or-
egon Occupational Safety and
Health rules, employees must
wear a mask, but cannot be re-
quired to be vaccinated against
COVID-19, Rudy Owens, Or-
egon Health Authority pub-
lic affairs specialist, said in an
email. There is no state or fed-
eral law requiring COVID-19
vaccinations, but school-age
children are required to be vac-
cinated against other diseases,
but there are exemptions.
“The Oregon Health Au-
thority hopes that health care
providers will get vaccinated
against COVID-19 and en-
courages individuals who are
eligible to get vaccinated,”
Owens said. “Health care pro-
viders, whether they are vac-
cinated or not, must follow
OHA’s infection control guid-
ance to prevent the spread of
COVID-19.”
St. Charles vaccination rate
doesn’t provide a breakdown
between patient-care and non
patient-care employees who
received the vaccine. How-
ever, an in-house survey done
in December by St. Charles
found that 90% of its medical
professionals said they wanted
to become vaccinated against
COVID-19.
“We cannot legally require
our caregivers to get vacci-
nated, but we strongly encour-
age them to do so,” said Lisa
Goodman, St. Charles Health
System spokeswoman. “Anec-
dotally, we believe our health
system’s vaccination rate is
similar to or even higher than
other hospital systems across
the nation.”
Chi said that the best way to
contain the COVID-19 pan-
demic is through vaccinations,
even though little is known
about how long they are effec-
tive in providing immunity.
“If we don’t contain it, we
run the risk of the virus con-
tinuing to mutate,” Chi said.
“The current vaccines are good
against these current variants,
but we run the risk of not be-
ing able to protect against the
future mutations.”
lining the size and scope of
his plan, the administration
hoping to take a more deliber-
ate and collaborative approach
with the lawmakers than it did
on the emergency COVID-19
rescue package, Biden’s first big
priority to be signed into law.
At a private briefing Tuesday
for the top lawmakers of both
parties, the administration
shared plans for the first phase
with Democratic committee
chairmen and the top Republi-
cans on the panels, a nod to the
White House’s efforts at out-
reach and bipartisanship.
The details were provided
by people familiar with the call
and granted anonymity to dis-
cuss it.
Funding Biden’s infrastruc-
ture initiative with tax hikes
has been controversial. Rais-
ing the corporate tax rate to
28% from 21% would gener-
ate some $700 billion over 10
years, one of the people said.
The administration is also eye-
ing a new global minimum tax.
Biden promised on the cam-
paign trail not to raise indi-
vidual taxes on those earning
less than $400,000 but new
details on the individual tax
hikes were scant at Tuesday’s
briefing.
Even though Republicans
were invited to join Tuesday’s
briefing, key GOP leaders are
already panning the package as
too big and too costly for them
to support.
“It seems like President
Biden has an insatiable appe-
tite to spend more money and
raise people’s taxes,” said Rep.
Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the
GOP whip, in an interview.
Sweeping in scope, the am-
bitious plan aims to make
generational investments in
infrastructure, revive domes-
tic manufacturing, combat
climate change and keep the
United States competitive with
China, according to adminis-
tration officials.
Larry Sidor, CEO of Crux
Fermentation Project, says he
has enough staff now but is
concerned about what might
transpire this summer when
more workers are needed.
“It’s a baffling situation. We
have high unemployment yet
applicants for our open posi-
tions at our pub are rare,” said
Sidor. “Really wish we had a
crystal ball to understand why
people are not available.”
The unemployment rate in
Deschutes County dropped to
7% in January, down from a
rate of 7.6% in December, but
higher than the 3.4% rate at the
same time in 2020, according
to data compiled by the Oregon
Employment Department.
Damon Runberg, regional
economist for the department,
said he is unsurprised to hear
that businesses are having
problems finding new employ-
ees.
“Roughly half of the unem-
ployed workers in Oregon are
on temporary layoff,” said Run-
berg. “Those on temporary lay-
off are still employer- attached
and expect to be called back
to their previous jobs, which
means that many of them are
not actively seeking a new job.”
Runberg explains that if
those on temporary layoffs are
taken out of the labor pool,
then the total number of un-
employed would look similar
to pre-COVID-19 levels, a time
that also experienced a labor
shortage.
While the lack of workers
is problematic, no one is com-
plaining about the public inter-
est in dining out and spending
money. Business owners say ta-
bles are full and customers are
eager to get out of their homes.
“The population in Bend
is going out like crazy. All the
restaurants are very busy,” said
Swigert. “That is part of the
problem. It’s great to be busy,
but you can’t maintain seven
days of volume with the em-
ployee breaks and days off.
There just aren’t enough people
to maintain long hours.”
Evan Vucci/AP
President Joe Biden speaks in the Oval Office of the White House be-
fore signing the PPP Extension Act of 2021on Tuesday.
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Reporter: 541-633-2117,
sroig@bendbulletin.com
Gary Warner contributed to
this report: 541-640-2750,
gwarner@eomediagroup.com
House
Continued from A1
Danny Moran, spokes-
man for House Speaker Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, said Tues-
day the budget bill promise
would not change the overall
dynamics of House votes.
“House Republican leader-
ship is still holding up critical
funding for summer learning,
child care, homeless shelters
and wildfire recovery,” Moran
said.Kotek said Monday that
the slowdown could cause
a pileup that would bump
up against the constitutional
clock. Tuesday was the 70th
day of the 160-day session
that began Jan. 19.
“We do run into the chal-
lenge of getting bills to the
Senate,” Kotek said Monday.
“It gets complicated.”
The session ran into prob-
lems immediately after it
started in January. The House
recessed because of security
concerns over Oregon State
Police warnings of possi-
ble violent demonstrations
timed to the inauguration of
President Joseph Biden. No
demonstrations occurred at
that time.
Because of the COVID-19
pandemic, the Legislature
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held remote hearings for
much of the first two months.
However, the constitution re-
quires that lawmakers come
to the Capitol for the final
passage of bills.
Two cases of COVID-19
linked to floor activity briefly
shut the House over the past
month.
In response to the slow-
down, Kotek has scheduled
day and evening sessions for
every day this week.
The schedule brings the
lawmakers to the Capitol,
which has been closed since
March 2020 because of the
COVID-19 outbreak. The
ZIP code where the Capitol is
located has had the most cases
of COVID-19 in the state.
Both sides blame the other
for having to spend so much
time in the Capitol. Republi-
cans say that too much time
is being spent on bills that
aren’t directly related to the
COVID-19, economic slow-
down and wildfire relief. An
estimated 4,000 pieces of leg-
islation have been introduced,
the most in a decade.
“That would be too much
in a normal year and this is
not a normal year,” said An-
drew Fromm, spokesman for
the House Republican Caucus.
Reporter: 541-617-7818,
mkohn@bendbulletin.com
Republicans say that too
much time is being spent
on bills that aren’t directly
related to the COVID-19,
economic slowdown and
wildfire relief.
Democrats want to address
police reform, affordable
housing, environmental ini-
tiatives, taxes, health care and
gun control, along with other
issues. They say Republicans
are using a desperate tactic to
force the will of a small mi-
nority onto the majority who
say they were elected to pass
the kind of legislation on the
agenda.
Rep. Rachel Prusak, D-Tu-
alatin, tweeted on Tuesday
that the slowdown was tempt-
ing a health crisis.
“They’re also putting the
health of all legislators, staff
and their families at risk as
we’re still fighting a global
pandemic,” she wrote.
So far, no lawmaker has
tested positive, making Ore-
gon one of only four states to
have its Legislature virus-free
over the past 13 months.
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gwarner@eomediagroup.com
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