May 1 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she opposes a gas-tax moratorium aimed at easing prices at the pump, rejecting a proposal backed by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Pelosi said she doesn't believe a summer-long suspension of the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax would do much to lower gasoline prices.

``There's no reason to believe that a moratorium on the gas tax will be passed on to the consumer,'' Pelosi told reporters in Washington.

Clinton has said a moratorium should be part of a broader plan to end subsidies for oil producers. Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, an Arizona senator, say that suspending the tax would give some relief to consumers pinched by the economic slowdown and gas prices that have risen 66 cents from a year ago to an average of $3.60 a gallon.

``I believe we should impose a windfall profits tax on big oil companies and use that money to suspend the gas tax and give families relief at the pump,'' Clinton said in a statement today. ``The typical family could get $70 in relief, and families that drive more for work could get even more.''

Clinton's Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, opposes the gas-tax moratorium, saying it will do little for consumers while putting a hole in a federal highway trust fund for road and bridge repairs. The gasoline tax is paid into that fund.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 1, 2008 15:08 EDT