Washington  - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain took on his own party for excessive government spending and hammered corporations that pay chief executives for poor performance, in a broad economic speech Tuesday.

McCain told a gathering of small business owners in Washington that it was time for Republicans to begin "reclaiming our good name as the party of spending restraint," after years of running up the US budget deficit under a once Republican-controlled Congress and President George W Bush.

"Somewhere along the way, too many Republicans in Congress became indistinguishable from the big-spending Democrats that they used to oppose," said McCain, a senator from Arizona.

His remarks came as the US general election campaign heads into full swing, after Barack Obama last week wrapped up the Democratic Party's nomination for president. McCain already clinched his party's nod in March.

McCain criticized Obama for saying he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, and called on Congress to approve a pending trade deal with Colombia.

Trade will likely be a continuing hotspot on the campaign trail. Obama has blamed lax agreements for the hardship of US workers, while McCain is a staunch supporter of free trade.

McCain blamed "corporate abuses" for the woes in the US housing market, and called for the salaries of chief executives to be approved by the company's shareholders.

A record number of foreclosures over the past year by homeowners - many of whom were given mortgages they could ill-afford by over-eager lenders - has sparked a much wider US economic slowdown and crisis in financial markets.

"Americans are right to be offended when the extravagant salaries and severance deals of CEOs - in some cases, the very same CEOs who helped bring on these market troubles - bear no relation to the success of the company or the wishes of the stockholders," McCain said.

"Something is seriously wrong when the American people are left to bear the consequences of reckless corporate conduct," he said. (dpa)