---
title: 2 Republican Candidates Actually Want a Higher Minimum Wage
description: Republicans Ben Carson and Rick Santorum made the case to raise the minimum wage at CNN's GOP presidential debate.
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published: '2015-09-17T11:50:09.000Z'
modified: '2024-04-16T06:50:50.000Z'
section: Economy and Politics
tags:
  - CNN Debate
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  - Dr. Benjamin S. Carson
  - Minimum Wage
  - presidential debates
  - Republican debate
  - republican debate 2016 election
  - rick santorum
  - The Economy
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![Republican presidential candidates, cnn debates](https://img.money.com/2015/09/150917_em_republicandebate_grab_1.jpg)

At the September 16 debates among the 15 remaining Republican presidential candidates, two of them actually came out in favor of a higher minimum wage--in their own way.

In the early debate among the four candidates with the lowest polling numbers--Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Lindsay Graham--Santorum said he'd support an increase of 50 cents per hour, over three years, in the federal minimum wage, which now stands at $7.25 per hour. That's well below President Obama's desired target of $10.10, which is currently the minimum wage required to be paid by new federal contractors.

In the later debate among the higher-polling candidates, Ben Carson championed a two-tier minimum wage with different levels for younger and older workers. He also proposed linking the minimum wage to inflation "so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America."

***Read Next: [This Is the Tax Loophole Obama, Bush, and Trump All Want to Close](https://money.com/tax-loophole-carried-interest/)***

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