speak to their state transportation departments, governors to get a list of infrastructure priorities. congressional democrats want to cram more in there than just bridges, roads and trains. the budget chairman told the hill the next reconciliation bill will likely combine infrastructure, healthcare and more as some colleagues are pushing to pass other priorities like immigration reform through reconciliation. that is the procedural tool that democrats used to pass the covid bill without republican support. it s unclear if those types of initiatives could get through the process. some could argue they re not tied to the budget. we re not there yet anyway. republicans expressed willingness to work with democrats on infrastructure, which is the biggest focus. this bold action is ours. if we want to work with republicans, we will. where we can we will. we will not be deterred from big bold action when we can t work with them. the white house sees the infrastructure as a way
transportation bill or was about to before it went into the july 4th weekend, mike. what is potentially the impact of that? reporter: well, jenna, period of times say it will help stop the erosion of jobs once state transportation departments will realize they have money from the 27-month transportation bill. they will be able to fund long-term projects. won t be expecting a jump in employment from it but most likely scenarios the contractors will hang onto the workers they have, expecting more public sector work in the pipeline and won t move forward with laying people off. president obama is due to sign the highway and transit bill into law later today. jenna? jenna: mike emanuel, live in washington. mike, thank you. jon: get into america s election headquarters now. on the campaign trail governor mitt romney reportedly making some changes to his campaign staff or additions at least. the republican candidate said to be adding a few seasoned veterans to his communication team.
year is at 8.2%. higher than any of the predecessors in 30 years. construction employment, a major part of the economy stalled out in june. however, as chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel explains there is a lot more to the troubling numbers. president obama signed the $105 billion transportation package in to law late today. funding construction jobs. he said would otherwise be lost. this bill will keep thousands of construction workers on the job, rebuilding our nation s infrastructure. the legislation will fund road and transit project through the end of fiscal 2014. allowing state transportation departments to go forward with major infrastructure projects. though an industry economist says it may only stop job losses. you are not going to see immediate jump in highway employment. at least firms may hang on to workers whom otherwise they would have had to lay off.