Sen. Ron Johnson: 'Good workers' don't make minimum wage

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Sunday defended voting against raising the minimum wage by suggesting that only bad workers earned minimum wage.

"Bottom line: when you’re a good worker you don’t stay at minimum wage for long," he said. "Trust me on that. It’s not universal, but trust me as an employer, as an employer I certainly didn’t want to lose good employees. And so you actually have a better marketplace. And so if your employer is not paying you good wages and you’re a good worker, you go look for other places.

"Now that’s hard to do, that’s hard to do when we have such high levels of unemployment. But again I would get back to we don’t have a very attractive place for business investment."

Johnson added that he earned minimum wage while working during college and lived in his parents house.

Democrats blasted the senator for his comment, noting that he married into millions.

"We know he doesn't like workers and we're not even sure if Ron Johnson supports a minimum wage, but the least he could do is keep his mouth shut on the subject when his fortune came not because of his hard work, but because of a fortunate marriage," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Tuesday.

"Being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple has led Ron Johnson to dangerous ideas that would shred our social safety net and drive wages into the dirt all to appease a master class of people that sees fit to celebrate its riches while the rest of America suffers in rags."

Watch video of Sen. Johnson, courtesy of The UpTake, below: