EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney renewed his support Wednesday for automatic increases in the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, a position sharply at odds with traditional GOP business allies, conservatives and the party's senior lawmakers.

"I haven't changed my thoughts on that," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters aboard his chartered campaign plane, referring to a stand he has held for a decade. He did not say if he would ask Congress to approve the change if he wins the White House this fall.

Congress first enacted federal minimum wage legislation in 1938 and has raised it sporadically in the years since. The last increase, approved in 2007, took effect in three installments and reached $7.25 an hour for covered workers effective July 24, 2009. It has never been allowed to rise automatically, as Romney envisions.

Romney's chief rival for the nomination, Newt Gingrich, criticized Romney for the stance, pointing to previous periods of hyperinflation and saying it would end up costing way too much money. "That would be a very dangerous idea," Gingrich said. Romney also drew criticism from the anti-tax Club for Growth. "Indexing the minimum wage would be an absolute job killer," the group's president, Chris Chocola, said in a statement.

He called the proposal "anti-growth." Organized labor generally supports increases in the minimum wage, and Romney's position could give him cross-over appeal among blue-collar Democrats in a general election campaign.