A little over a month ago the House of Representatives passed an increase to the minimum wage by a 315 to 116 margin. Earlier this month, the Senate passed its own version of a minimum wage increase with a sweetner in the form of tax cuts for small businesses by a 94 to 3 marging. In order to come closer to reconciling the two slightly different pieces of legislation, the House passed a tax cut of its own yesterday by a 360 to 45 margin. From here, leaders from the two chambers will work informally leading into a conference committee where the House and Senate works to combine all of the legislation into one bill that can pass both chambers. This is a textbook example of how the legislative process works and is, frankly, a quick example at that. But how does The New York Times spin the story? Under the headline Familiar Problem Stalls Minimum Wage Bill.

When Democrats campaigned last fall to recapture control of Congress, few domestic issues seemed to have as much winning potential as raising the minimum wage.

[...]

Yet after six weeks in power, the Democratic-led House and Senate have yet to agree on a final bill. The obstacle is the same one that stymied Republicans time after time when they had control: paralyzingly thin margins in the Senate.

According to the reporter, Edmund L. Andrews, the chief Senate negotiator, Max Baucus, believes that the two sides are -- grasp -- "within weeks of reaching their goal". My gosh, the Democrats might take as long as two or three months to send legislation increasing the minimum wage to the White House. Sure, the previous four Republican Congresses were not able to do so, but still, two or three months... what an outrage!

The editors and reporters over at The Times might be well served going back to school to learn a little bit about how the legislative process works, about how, with the exception of bills that are bumping up against real or perceived to be real deadlines (like, say, a potential government shutdown), legislation takes time to pass through committees, both chambers, a conference committee and again both chambers. It may be an unfortunate fact about American politics, but it is a fact. And if those folks at The Times did go back and take a gander at their old college textbooks, they might realize that their lede should instead be, "Democrats moved one step closer to increasing the minimum wage, which Republicans were unable or unwilling to do in nearly a decade."