After President Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage in January, polls showed that Americans backed an increase, with even 50 percent of self-identified Republicans doing so.

Yet congressional Republicans, cribbing talking points from corporate lobbyists opposed to an increase, balked at Obama’s proposal, claiming it will harm the economy.

But these wild claims of economic destruction resulting from a minimum wage hike are not new. They are the very same sorts of scare tactics used to oppose the 2007 minimum wage hike that most Republicans also opposed. Here’s what Republicans and leading right-wing pundits said at the time:

  • Right-wing pundit John Stossell: A wage hike would be “sticking it to low-skilled workers” and lead to higher unemployment. [January 2007]
  • Republican Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY): Raising the wage will “put mom and pop businesses and their employees out of business” if not accompanied with another huge tax cut for the rich. [January 2007]
  • Republican President George W. Bush: Simply raising the wage would “punish the millions of small businesses that are creating most of the new jobs in our country.” [January 2007]
  • The Heritage Foundation: This leading right-wing think tank claimed “raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would cost at least 8 percent of affected workers their jobs.” [January 2007]
  • Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA): Kingston said the minimum wage is just an “arbitrary number” but that raising it would “decrease the number of jobs, thus hurting those whom we are supposed to be helping.” [January 2007]
  • Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE): Terry said that raising the wage would be “nothing more than a Band-Aid on a broken little toe. While their intentions may be good, and I believe they are, their philosophical approach is economically and socially flawed. In reality, this plan will create an economic hardship for the employers who provide millions of Americans the opportunity to participate in our economy.” [January 2007]
  • Republican Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK): Coburn said his vote against the minimum wage bill was to “protect the salaries of low-income families” who would be laid off as a result of the wage hike. [February 2007]
  • Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH): Gregg — who now works for Goldman Sachs — had this take: “If you start losing jobs because you raise minimum wage too quickly, too fast that small employers canai??i??t afford it, thatai??i??s going to have an effect on peoplesai??i?? opportunity to work.” [June 2006]

And recall that at the time 28 Republican Senators, many of them still serving today, voted in favor of eliminating the federal minimum wage altogether.

Despite the scare tactics from congressional Republicans, the 2007 minimum wage hike did not harm the economy. Study after study has shown that raising the minimum wage has not, on net, cost workers their jobs.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.