Ron Johnson thinks there should be no federal minimum wage

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson doesn't just oppose raising the federal minimum wage. He thinks there should be no minimum wage whatsoever.

That comes from Politifact, which checked out a statement from the Republican lawmaker's Democratic opponent, former Sen. Russ Feingold, who was booted from office by Johnson in 2010 after three terms.

The issue came up in an Aug. 18 campaign speech Feingold delivered in Milwaukee.

"Now, my likely opponent, the incumbent senator, opposes entirely — get this, opposes entirely — a federal minimum wage," Feingold said. "At least for Americans — apparently he has some openness about guest workers — disrespecting the hard work and dignity of too many working Wisconsinites."

Feingold supports gradually raising the minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, to $15. 

Politifact dug up a statement from Johnson at a July 2, 2014, WisPolitics event. Asked by an attendee what the minimum wage should be, or if there should be a minimum wage at all, Johnson replied:

"Shouldn’t be one. The only area that I would agree with minimum wage is in immigration reform, the guest worker program. I'd be 100 percent supportive of a minimum wage — kind of industry specific, maybe regionally specific — for guest workers, so that we're not creating incentives for employers to bring in immigrants to lower the price of labor."

He also said: 

"In the general economy, you get government involved in making market decisions — first of all, they're going to get it wrong. For a minimum wage, you will actually reduce the number of jobs available. What you don't want to do — if you're concerned about poverty, if you're concerned about providing opportunity — you don't want to rip the bottom rung of the ladder of opportunity away from people. And that’s what you do."

Politifact contacted Johnson's campaign to see if that was indeed the senator's position. The campaign didn't dispute it. 

The campaign added that Johnson "knows minimum wages laws are here to stay," and he "does not seek to get rid of the federal minimum wage — it's here to stay."