CONCORD, N.H. — None of the top Republicans running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire wants to increase the federal minimum wage, and one of them wants to get rid of it altogether.

President Obama has made increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 a second-term political priority, and he signed an executive order in February requiring federal contractors to pay their workers at least that much. But many Republicans oppose the increase, including former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, former New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Bob Smith and former state Sen. Jim Rubens.

They are among 10 candidates competing in the Sept. 9 Republican primary, with the winner taking on U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in November.

Brown said he supports the minimum wage and has voted for increases in the past, but doesn’t think it should be raised now.

“I believe we should get the input of the employer community before imposing new or higher burdens on them,” he said.

Smith went further, saying “The federal government has no business dictating what an employer pays an employee in the private marketplace,” while Rubens said increasing the minimum wage would lead to job losses and automation.

A better-targeted Earned Income Tax Credit would do more to lift low-income workers out of poverty than a higher minimum wage, said Rubens.

“Compared with other industrial nations, the U.S. has lost the war on poverty because our spending on anti-poverty programs is poorly targeted and relies more heavily on bureaucratic interventions than direct cash grants that support work and family stability,” he said.

– The Associated Press

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