Rachel West and Michael Reich write for the Center for American Progress: “The federal minimum wage has not been raised for five years. Its real value today—$7.25 per hour—is less than two-thirds of what it was in 1968. Such a low minimum wage means that many full-time workers live in poverty. They must rely on public assistance programs—such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps—to keep their families from going hungry each month.”