If U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander hadn’t helped to block a bill last month, workers might be seeing a higher minimum wage, a handful of protesters said Monday as they rallied near his Nashville office.

The Tennessee Republican countered that if the Fair Minimum Wage Act had passed, 500,000 jobs would have been lost.

The bill, which failed 54-60 in the U.S. Senate, would have raised the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour.

“Lamar Alexander was one of the key proponents in blocking that bill in the Senate,” said Dustin Evans, a volunteer with Organizing for Action, advocates for the wage increase.

Alexander said in a press release that low-income families would benefit more from other measures, such as improved federal job training programs, that have bipartisan support.


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