McCain proposes gas tax suspension

McCain's plan included an idea that carries some political risk: an increase in the premiums that high-income elderly people would pay for prescription drugs under Medicare.

The speech at Carnegie Mellon University here was McCain's most sweeping presentation of the presidential campaign on how he would try to reverse America's economic slowdown.

Voters consistently name the economy as their top concern, but McCain's rivals have been pelting him with reminders of his concession not long ago that it is not his strong suit.

The thrust of McCain's approach would be to limit the size of the government, though the presumptive Republican nominee also recently proposed rescuing as many as 400,000 homeowners facing the threat of foreclosure.

Though the package of ideas drew support from some economists for its pledge to cut taxes and simplify the tax system, many analysts called the proposed holiday in the 18-cents-a-gallon gas tax a gimmick. Others questioned whether McCain's plans would bloat the federal budget deficit.

The Arizona senator made a point of criticizing his own party at a time when polls show that most Americans view Democrats as better-suited than Republicans to handle the economy.

"In so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of both political parties," McCain told several hundred students in a university gymnasium. "For Republicans, it starts with reclaiming our good name -- our good name as the party of spending restraint."

McCain portrayed the Democratic White House contenders, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, as sorely lacking in fiscal restraint. At the same time, he hammered them for opposing a permanent extension of President Bush's tax cuts.

"Both promise big change, and a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade would certainly fit that description," McCain said. "Of course, they would like you to think that only the very wealthy will pay more in taxes, but the reality is quite different."

When McCain voted against Bush's tax cuts, he denounced them as a giveaway to the rich. But in his campaign for president, he has called for keeping them on the books -- at an annual cost of $280 billion, aides said -- rather than letting them expire in 2010.