Sen. Hillary Clinton has come out in favor of a gas-tax "holiday" supported by Sen. John McCain, but says she would slap a windfall-profits tax on oil companies rather than reduce federal transportation spending to make up the difference.



Sen. Barack Obama, meanwhile, is quoted in the New York Times as calling both ideas "short-term, quick fix" solutions to a much more complex problem. Eliminating the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon from Memorial Day to Labor Day would give the average American driver half a tank of gas, he said. 



Clinton announced her plan Monday, saying it would help middle-class Americans who are struggling to keep up with their bills. 



McCain floated his idea April 15, calling the three-month elimination of federal gasoline and diesel taxes "an immediate economic stimulus." The gas-tax holiday came under immediate fire from many quarters, including a major road construction group that said unless Congress used other tax revenues to replace the motor fuels taxes, it would cut some $9 billion out of the Federal Highway Trust, which funds road and other transportation project. New Mexico was estimated to lose more than $66 million under the proposal.



Clinton’s plan skirts the construction funds issue by taxing oil companies. She said federal highway funds would not be touched.



The Times noted that both the Democratic presidential front-runners have switched positions on the gas-tax idea. Clinton once opposed such a plan, saying it would have hurt her constituents in New York, while Obama once supported a temporary suspension of the Illinois gas tax, the paper reported.