Romney Wants Minimum Wage Increase Tied To Economic Benchmarks

Thursday, August 16th 2007, 3:33 pm

By: News On 6

GREER, S.C. (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Thursday that the minimum hourly wage should be tied to benchmarks in the economy, which would help squelch future debate on increasing the paychecks of low-paid workers.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, favors the wage being tied to changes in the inflation index, commonly known as the consumer price index, and to data on employment and jobless rates.

``I do like the idea of getting the political debate out and I like the idea of not having the huge jumps as we do now,'' Romney said after speaking to about 100 people gathered outside the Chamber of Commerce in this early GOP primary state's foothills.

The federal minimum wage rose 70 cents to $5.85 an hour in July, the first increase in a decade. Legislation signed by President Bush increases the wage 70 cents each summer until 2009, when all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour.

Campaigning later in the day in Fairlea, W.Va., Romney repeated his pledge to make West Virginia coal key to his national energy plan, and said that commitment would include federal funding for technology to convert coal into liquid fuel.

``We will invest as a nation in new sources of energy, including clean coal,'' Romney told The Associated Press while walking with a crowd at the State Fair of West Virginia.

Romney said he ranks coal alongside ethanol, biofuels and nuclear energy as alternatives to foreign oil. Romney has also called for increasing the efficiency of homes and vehicles, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Toward that end, Romney said he supports ways to siphon off or reduce carbon dioxide created when coal is burned for fuel.