Romney reiterates support for increasing minimum wage with inflation

Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he supported tying the federal minimum wage to inflation, a move that would result in automatic increases to the pay rate. The position is a break from fiscal conservative orthodoxy — which generally seeks to eliminate the minimum wage — but could help Romney rebound from damaging comments he made earlier Wednesday when discussing the "very poor" in America.

"I haven't changed my thoughts on that," Romney told reporters aboard his campaign plane on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. He was apparently referring to a statement he made in 2002 when running for governor of Massachusetts, when he advocated an increase in the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation — a proposal President Obama touted in 2008 during his presidential run.

But in 2006 Romney vetoed an increase in Massachusetts's minimum wage, arguing that a salary hike would cause a loss of jobs. The last federal increase, which passed in 2007, implemented gradual increases until 2009, when the minimum wage hit its current rate of $7.25 an hour.

Since then, Romney has made reference to an indexed minimum wage on the campaign trail, signaling that he still supported the idea on a federal level.

Newt Gingrich said last month that he was "surprised" that Romney held the position when asked about it during a New Hampshire town hall.

"I'm surprised because what it does is guarantees higher unemployment," Gingrich said. When his questioner offered video of Romney supporting the inflation-based minimum wage, Gingrich joked he'd "like that a lot."

But the increased focus on Romney's position Wednesday could help the Republican front-runner battle back on a stumble earlier in the day, when Romney told CNN that he is "not concerned about the very poor."

Later Wednesday, Romney defended his statement to reporters, arguing that his words were  taken out of context.

"No no no no. No no. You've got to take the whole sentence, all right, as opposed to saying, and then change it just a little bit, because then it sounds very different. I've said throughout the campaign my focus, my concern, my energy is gonna be devoted to helping middle-income people, all right? We have a safety net for the poor, and if there are holes in it, I will work to repair that. And if there are people that are falling through the cracks I want to fix that," Romney said.

"Wealthy people are doing fine. But my focus in the campaign is on middle-income people. Of course I'm concerned about all Americans — poor, wealthy, middle class, but the focus of my effort will be on middle-income families who I think have been most hurt by the Obama economy."

But just in providing the soundbite, Romney played into the theme, cultivated by his political opponents, that his wealth has left him out of touch with most Americans.

New York State introduced legislation to raise its state minimum wage to $8.50 an hour Wednesday, although similar proposals in Congress have stalled after Republican leaders signaled their strong opposition to further increases.

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