The Hill News

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 â€" which generally seeks to eliminate the minimum wage â€" 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 â€" 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 200! 7, implemented gradual increases until 2009, when the minimum wage hit its current rate of $7.25 an hour.

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