President Barack Obama will travel to Connecticut on Wednesday as part of his campaign to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, a visit that comes after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy offered a heated defense of the proposal at a press conference Monday in Washington.

Obama will visit the Hartford area on March 5 to promote proposals to increase the minimum wage, according to a White House spokesman who said that further details would be made available in coming days.

Malloy urged the General Assembly to pass a bill this year that would raise the state's minimum hourly rate to $10.10, following the president's lead after Obama called on Congress in his State of the Union address to implement the policy nationwide. The governor has since become an outspoken advocate for raising the rate above $10 an hour.

The announcement of Obama's visit comes just days after Malloy and Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal clashed over the topic at a National Governors' Association press conference outside the White House. After Jindal criticized Obama's efforts to increase the federal minimum wage, Malloy jumped to the microphone and fired back, describing his fellow governor's criticism of the president as "the most insane statement I've heard."
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