We last raised the US federal minimum wage 14 years ago. This is unacceptable | Rev William J Barber and Rev A Kazimir Brown

The minimum has been an unlivable $7.25 an hour under three presidents. Today's wage is worth less than at any point since 1956

Researchers at the University of California-Riverside recently released a study showing poverty is the fourth leading cause of death nationwide. Poverty kills more people than homicide, respiratory disease, gun violence and opioid overdoses, the study showed.

It's stress, it's starvation, it's disease. And it's all unnecessary.

The Rev William J Barber II is founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School

The Rev A Kazimir Brown is executive director of Repairers of the Breach