WASHINGTON (July 7, 2012)--President Barack Obama has signed a bill to keep construction workers on the job and prevent a spike in interest rates on new loans to college students and says the measure "will make a real difference" for millions of Americans.

The legislation Mr. Obama signed into law allows more than $100 billion to be spent on highway and other transportation programs during the next two years.

The projects would have expired June 30.

It also keeps interest rates of 3.4 percent for subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates.

The rates would have doubled for new loans beginning July 1 if Congress hadn't acted.

Construction workers and college students joined the president for the bill signing at the White House.

Mr. Obama signed the bill after a two-day bus trip through parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania.