WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican White House candidate Mitt Romney is offering new ideas on the controversial issues of taxes and immigration, sparking a new flashpoint with President Barack Obama before their inaugural debate Wednesday.

The GOP nominee suggested an option of limiting deductions to pay for his across-the-board income tax cut and revealed that he would honor temporary work permits for young illegal immigrants granted by the Obama administration.

"The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I'm not going to take something that they've purchased," Romney told The Denver Post in an interview published Tuesday. "Before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that I've proposed."