Oregon is to get $453,788,475 from the economic stimulus package passed by Congress on Friday.

The White House estimates the stimulus will create or save 44,000 jobs in Oregon by funneling money into infrastructure projects, Medicaid, schools and other grant projects.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has pieced together a list of 46 projects that will make use of the federal highway funding. Lawmakers are also hoping to use stimulus dollars to spare schools and human services from severe cuts in light of the growing budget shortfalls.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski called the bill "an important first step toward economic recovery for Oregon and states throughout the nation.

"The targeted investments in education, infrastructure, human services and renewable energy development will help create thousands of jobs for Oregonians immediately and help us toward long-term economic recovery,'' he said in a statement.

But he said the package would not totally solve the state budget crisis.

"There are still many difficult decisions before the state, that working with the legislature, we must address in order to provide a balanced budget by the end of this fiscal year,'' he said.

Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-4th District, was among just seven Democrats who voted against the plan.

DeFazio switched his vote from last month - the only member of Congress to oppose the bill after supporting the initial version.

DeFazio said in an interview that he was concerned that just $64 billion went to transportation and infrastructure - just 8 percent of the overall bill.

He also said the measure was too heavily weighted toward tax cuts.

"We started out with a lot of talk about timely, targeted and temporary, and a whole lot of talk about infrastructure. And we have ended up with a bill that contains four times as much money for tax cuts as it does for infrastructure and putting people back to work,'' DeFazio said.

DeFazio chairs the highways and transit subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said the tax cuts are not going to help rebuild 160,000 bridges in need of repair nationwide, including thousands in Oregon.

The latest version of the stimulus bill cuts about 700,000 jobs nationwide from the version adopted by the House in January, DeFazio said.

Freshman Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, also commented.

"America is in the midst of a jobs crisis. In Oregon, our unemployment rate has gone up a full percentage point every month for the last three months,'' Merkley said. "This bill meets that crisis head on by investing in programs that will create jobs now and pave the way for future growth.''

HOW OREGON DELEGATION VOTED

HOUSE: Oregon's House members split 3-2 as the bill passed 246-183.

Voting yes: Earl Blumenauer, D-3rd District; Kurt Schrader, D-5th District; David Wu, D-1st District.

Voting no: Peter DeFazio, D-4th District; Greg Walden, R-2nd District.

SENATE: Oregon's two senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, both voted in favor of the bill, which passed 60-38.