Do It. Now!

The lege dithers when the answer is right in front of them:

The move toward a $9.50-an-hour wage floor marks a significant victory for advocates who have been campaigning for months to get the DFL-controlled Legislature to back a major jump in the minimum wage.

On Monday, Senate negotiators said they now support finding a compromise to raise the minimum to $9.50. Last year, the Senate backed only a more modest increase, while the House and Gov. Mark Dayton supported the higher level.

“This is the crux of the bill,” said Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, a veteran legislator and Senate negotiator on the issue.

Alas, there's discord:

Still, the deal is not done. On Monday night, House negotiators rejected the Senate’s proposed hike because it included only the wage for big businesses and not other key parts of the measure.

“I just don’t think we can take it piece by piece,” said Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley. “Usually every concession has a price,” he told his fellow legislators on why he didn’t fall in with the Senate proposal.

Oh, that Winkler; he's so disappointing to his colleagues:

“I don’t understand why you can’t support your own language,” Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, told Winkler.

If you had Winkler's Twitter history, you'd understand why Winkler has trouble supporting his own language, Sen. Eaton.

Still, $9.50? Seriously? What is it that's supposedly magical about that figure? I saw this on the internet the other day and frankly, I think it's the obvious solution:

We'll be rich!

C'mon, DFL -- let's get serious about this. If we're gonna solve poverty, $9.50 isn't nearly enough.