Defying Republican orthodoxy, presidential candidate Rick Santorum issued a rousing defense of raising the minimum wage at the Republican debate Wednesday night, defending it as necessary for working Americans.
“The Republicans don’t believe in a floor wage in America,” Santorum said in the debate at the Reagan Presidential Library. “Fine, but go ahead and make that case to the American public, I’m not going to.”
Santorum proposed raising the federal minimum wage by 50 cents over three years, which would take it from $7.25 hourly currently to $7.75.
Such an increase would fall far short of the increase to $10.10 that President Obama has sought, much less the $15 that activists and some Democrats are targeting in certain cities and states.
But the former Pennsylvania senator defended the increase on the grounds that it was politically necessary for Republicans to appeal to workers, not just business owners.
GOP-led Congresses, he argued, have bailed out banks and supported tax breaks for businesses. “But when it comes to hardworking Americans at the bottom of the income scale, we can’t provide some level of income support?” he asked.
He went on to criticize Republicans’ focus on entrepreneurs and business managers in past elections. He took particular exception to what he portrayed as the party’s undue focus on Obama’s infamous “you didn’t build that” remark about business owners in 2012.
Instead, he said, the party should appeal more to workers at those businesses.
“How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don’t think we care at all about them and their chance to rise?” he asked.
Santorum made his remarks at the four-person early debate for candidates lower in the polls. Although he won Iowa in the 2010 Republican Party running on a mix of social conservatism and pro-worker rhetoric, he has struggled to gain traction in the race for 2016, and is 13th in the Washington Examiner‘s power rankings.
