Florida Republican's response to minimum wage question: 'Get a job'

On Wednesday, Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) showed how much he cares about his constituents and their concerns. Asked by a constituent if he would support a Democratic bill to raise the minimum wage, Young repeatedly told the questioner to "get a job"'even though the man responded that he does have a job.

Constituent: Hi, I'm Pepe, how are you? Happy Fourth of July. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is passing a bill around to increase the minimum wage to 10 bucks an hour. Do you support that?

Young: Probably not.

Constituent: 10 bucks an hour would give us a living wage.

Young: How about getting a job?

Constituent: I do have one. $8.50 an hour.

Young: Well, then why do you want that benefit? Get a job.

Constituent: I have a job. It's not enough to get by on.

Apparently Bill Young doesn't understand that someone might want to earn more than they're currently earning? And that you might think it's good policy that if you're working, you should be earning enough to get by on? No, he hears "minimum wage" and goes straight to "this person must be a lazy bum looking for a handout" and can't move on from that reaction even when the person turns out to not only have a job, but one that is nearly a dollar an hour above Florida's minimum wage (which, at $7.67, is higher than the federal minimum of $7.25).

Seems like Young's listening skills and caring skills are as broken as his policy skills, since raising the minimum wage would be good not only for low-wage workers but for the economy.