Could you live on $290 per week? That’s how much money someone earning minimum wage and working 40 hours a week makes — before taxes. After taxes, the take-home pay would be $262.66 per week. I don’t know anyone who believes that’s enough money to live on.

Yet, when Sen. Lamar Alexander had the chance to cast a vote in favor of raising the minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10, he voted no.

To put Sen. Alexander’s vote in context, his net worth is estimated at $10.38 million, making him the 27th-wealthiest person in Congress, according to Roll Call. And Lamar could be much wealthier than even that figure, since congressional financial disclosures allow members to list the value of each asset in a range, such as $5 million-$25 million, rather than a specific dollar amount.

But even at a minimum, Alexander’s net worth would take 688 years to earn at minimum wage.

Recent polls show most Americans support raising the minimum wage to $10.10. A Bloomberg survey found that 79 percent of Americans do, and a Quinnipiac University poll found that, by a 2-1 margin, voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports raising the minimum wage.

You would think politicians would want to get in front of that parade. Tennessee’s other Republican senator, Bob Corker, voted for the legislation to increase the minimum wage, although he says that his vote was only to bring it to the Senate floor for debate and that he didn’t support the bill without changes.

At least, Sen. Corker (minimum net worth $21.18 million, or 1,404 years of minimum-wage pay) was willing to let the debate continue. Alexander and every other Republican senator voted to slam the door on even discussing a proposal.

Was Alexander trying to mollify right-wing Republicans as he seeks to defeat a primary challenger this year? Perhaps. Opposing higher wages for the working poor IS a tenet of right-wing Republican economics. But Alexander actually takes an even more extreme position: He told a Senate Labor Committee he wants to abolish the minimum wage entirely.

Thankfully, few in Washington agree with him on that, but inflation is already effectively killing the minimum wage in slow motion anyway. Rising prices for groceries and gas mean the value of the minimum wage has declined since it was set at $7.25 seven years ago.

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak recently noted that most minimum- and low-wage workers aren’t teens in their first jobs just trying to make a few bucks. Sixty-eight percent of fast-food workers are adults. One-fourth of them have children. Two-thirds are women.

Major corporations like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s are being subsidized by taxpayers because low wages mean workers qualify for Medicaid and food stamps. Walmart earned a $17 billion profit last year. Taxpayers spend $1.2 billion a year to subsidize McDonald’s minimum-wage workers.

Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 would save taxpayers money. Because cutting public assistance programs for the poor is another tenet of Republican economics, Republicans like Alexander who vote against a higher minimum wage are basically burning the low-wage workers at both ends.

At Freeman Webb, we pay all of our full-time workers more than minimum wage. I believe it is good business and the right thing to do. There is value in paying people enough to live on. Sen. Alexander and our other Republican senators should reconsider and encourage their fellow Republicans to do the same. The American people want the minimum wage increased. It’s time our elected representatives listen to them.

Bill Freeman, a former treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party, serves as chairman of Freeman Webb, Inc., a Nashville-based real estate investment, management and broker­age company, which he co-founded in 1979.

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