McCain Touts Economic Plan

From CBS News' John Bentley

(DENVER) John McCain said today he will balance the budget by the end of his first term is he is elected president – a daunting task, given that the deficit and is expected to rise to over $400 billion by 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“We must also get government's fiscal house in order,” McCain said as he “re-launched” his economic policy plans. “American workers and families pay their bills and balance their budgets, and I will demand the same of the government. A government that spends wisely and balances its budget is a catalyst for economic growth and the creation of good and secure jobs.”

He also promised to cut taxes by eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, doubling the personal exemption for dependents, and lowering the federal corporate tax rate.

“If you believe you should pay more taxes, I am the wrong candidate for you. Sen. Obama is your man,” McCain said. “Sen. Obama will raise your taxes. I won't. I will cut them where I can. Jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. When you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. I'm not going to let that happen.”

Obama responded that McCain’s policies amounted to nothing more than a continuation of current “misguided” economic plans. “If you look at the essence of his economic polices, which are based on large, massive tax cuts for corporation and wealthy individuals, only a quarter of those tax cuts going to the middle class, in contrast to my tax plan that would be designed where 95% of the beneficiaries of the tax breaks would go to the middle class,” Obama said. “John McCain wants to continue the same policies that George Bush made the cornerstone of his administration. They haven’t worked.”

McCain also said he would help the economy by making healthcare more affordable and ending America’s dependence on foreign oil, which he refers to as the Lexington Project. “My opponent's answer to the Lexington Project is no; no to more drilling; no to more nuclear power; no to research prizes that help solve the problem of affordable electric cars,” McCain said. “For a guy whose ‘official seal’ carried the motto, ‘Yes, we can,’ Sen. Obama's agenda sure has a whole lot of ‘No, we can't.’”