Georgia’s five best-known Republican Senate candidates voiced unequivocal opposition Tuesday to raising the minimum wage, striking a clear contrast from Democratic hopefuls in what could be a preview of a general election clash.
The five contenders blasted President Barack Obama’s call to raise the $7.25 hourly minimum wage to $10.10 as counterproductive, dishing out red meat to a sympathetic crowd at a National Federation of Independent Business forum.
The outspoken opposition came the same day the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released an analysis that found that raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 could cost as many as 500,000 jobs but would help lift 900,000 workers out of poverty.
“It’s going to kill jobs and it’s going to hurt our economy and I’ll do anything I can to make sure we never ever again raise the minimum wage,” said Rep. Paul Broun of Athens, one of three sitting congressmen competing for the seat.
Obama and other Democratic leaders are trying to make the minimum wage hike a key issue in the 2014 midterms, but it could be a trickier sell for candidates in Georgia trying to gain the seat of retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Democratic frontrunner Michelle Nunn didn't attend the forum, but she has carefully endorsed a minimum wage increase as long there's buy-in from business leaders. Branko Radulovacki, another Democratic contender, said at the event Tuesday he believes hiking the wage is a "win-win" for consumers and employers.
“This is what incresaing the minimum wage will do: It will put money in the pocket of consumers and boost the economy,” said Radulovacki.
National polls show boosting the minimum wage enjoys popular support and the Democratic-controlled Senate plans to vote on an increase this year. But GOP leaders are broadly against the proposal, and Broun and other GOP candidates made clear they are in lockstep over the issue.
Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah called it a “job killing regulation,” while Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, worried it would have a chilling effect on the economy. Former Fortune 500 executive David Perdue said the president’s push is a broader sign of the nation’s mounting economic problems.
But Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta had some of the harshest words for the proposal, invoking Obama’s healthcare overhaul in his critique.
“It would be the stupidest idea I can think of other than continuing with Obamacare,” he said.
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