Before Democrats' ninth attempt at raising the minimum wage was killed once again in the Senate yesterday, Barbara Boxer (D-CA) let her Republican colleagues have it. She blasted them for their lack of true family values, said they were lying in their assertions that raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade would harm the economy, and told them "the truth shall set you free."

Here's Boxer:

"Senator Enzi says this debate is grating on the Republican side of the aisle. Sorry, that is how it is when you are on the wrong side of the truth. It is grating to have to hear the truth as Senator Kennedy and others have spoken of.

"It has been 9 long years since there has been an increase in the minimum wage. It is a disgrace. While we see our friends on the other side fight for the CEOs of oil companies, in the Committee on Commerce, they would not even swear them in. They are all on that side. When it comes to working families, forget about it.

"Then Senator Enzi implies this does not have anything to do with women. Women make up 59 percent of the workers who would be affected as a result of raising the minimum wage; 1.4 million working mothers would benefit directly, 760,000 single moms would get an immediate raise, and over 3 million kids have parents who would get an immediate raise.

"What has happened to family values on the other side of the aisle? It seems to me it is just so many empty words.

"Then they scare you and say the economy will suffer. All you have to do, again, is look at the facts and look at the truth. In the 4 years after the last minimum wage increase passed, the economy experienced its strongest growth in over three decades. All the talk about how bad a minimum wage increase is for the economy is not true.

"I say to my Republican friends, support the Kennedy increase in the minimum wage. The truth shall set you free."

Democrats running for Senate need to remind their Republican opponents of how they voted on this legislation every single day between now and November 7.

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com