Romney has plan to 'get America working'

WOLFEBORO, N.H., July 6 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney said he has a plan that "calls for action that will get America working again," in the wake of the June unemployment report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday unemployment in June was 8.2 percent, making June the 41st consecutive month that unemployment was above 8 percent.

"The president doesn't have a plan; hasn't proposed any new ideas to get the economy going, just the same old ideas of the past that have failed," the presumptive Republican nominee said from New Hampshire vacation home. "I have a plan. My plan calls for action that will get America working again and create good jobs both near term and long term."

Romney said his plan to boost the job sector involves "building the Keystone pipeline," "opening up new markets for American trade, particularly in Latin America," and "bringing our tax rates down."

Meanwhile, the Romney campaign is considering a five-country foreign policy tour for the end of the month, campaign officials told Politico.

The tour would begin with an address at the VFW convention later this month in Reno, Nev., an official said. Then, Romney would fly to London for the start of the Olympics, where he would give a speech on U.S. foreign policy.

Under the plan being considered, Romney would then travel to Israel for a series of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, the source said. Upon leaving Israel, Romney would head back to Europe for stops in Germany and Poland.

Romney officials said the plan is still being worked out and will be finalized within the next week.

Romney is also making plans to build up his communications team with seasoned operatives amid growing criticism from prominent U.S. conservatives, campaign advisers told The Washington Post.

The GOP candidate's inner circle will remain intact, the advisers said.

The campaign, based in Boston, plans to strengthen its rapid-response and general messaging team, and some Republicans previously only informally advising the campaign may take on more official duties, strategists close to the campaign told the Post.

The campaign is putting together a senior staff for Romney's eventual vice presidential running-mate, the strategists said.

The moves could be announced as early as next week, they said.

The advisers strongly rejected a suggestion the campaign was making a course correction, the Post said.

The issue grew into an uproar last weekend when conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch and U.S. business executive and author Jack Welch called for a Romney campaign shake-up.

Murdoch wrote on Twitter Sunday Romney's presidential campaign team was outmatched by President Barack Obama's.

"Met Romney last week. Tough O[bama] Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful," the News Corp. chief executive officer wrote.

Murdoch, 81, was among 50 people who met with the former Massachusetts governor at the Union League Club of New York, a private New York City social club, June 28.

Welch, 76, a former General Electric Co. CEO, later sent out a Twitter message in support of Murdoch's shake-up call.

"Hope Mitt Romney is listening to Murdoch advice ont campaign staff..playing in league with Chicago pols..No room for amateurs," the message said.

Murdoch's Wall Street Journal editorialized Thursday Romney's advisers were "slowly squandering an historic opportunity" to beat Obama.

Later in the day conservative political radio talk show host Laura Ingraham asked listeners if they felt the vacationing Romney should "get off the Jet Ski."

Romney is vacationing on his estate on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., and was photographed sitting behind his wife, Ann Romney, on a water scooter.