Minimum Wage Passes 94-3

"Just moments ago, by a resounding vote of 94-3, the United States Senate passed legislation raising the Federal Minimum Wage for the first time in a decade. The legislation increases the minimum wage over two years from the current $5.25 per hour to $7.25, after years of pushing by Kennedy and Senate Democrats and, most recently, eight days of fighting with Republicans, who proposed over 100 business-friendly amendments to stall the vote."

I have to ask this question, if a bill passes 94-3, why did it take this long to bring it to a vote? It is not as if increasing the minimum wage is a new concept. In fact inflation has been only 2% for much of the past five years. That is, if a minimum wage increase was so necessary that it passed 94-3 this year, then, with inflation almost non-existent over the past five years, it should have passed five years ago. Why was it never brought to a vote? How broken is our system when a vote, this lopsided, is put off for five years. Think of the people who worked for $5.25 an hour over that time.