durbin enzi,r from north dakota, senator heitkamp, be permitted to engage in a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the colloquy is for the purpose of marking an important day in this body, the united states senate, because it was on this day one year ago that the senate overwhelmingly passed the marketplace fairness act. we did this by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. 69 senators, including about half of our republican caucus, 21 republicans, supported an 11-page bill, a rarity in this body, that is about just two words, and the words are "states' rights." the marketplace fairness act, simply described, gives states the right to decide for themselves whether to collect or not collect state sales taxes that are already owed. this the ability to collect taxes that are already owed would give states the option to reduce existing taxes or to avoid a new tax or to pay for services without raising taxes. the marketplace fairness act closes a tax loophole that prefers some businesses over other businesses

we went down to mexico, cindy and heidi heitkamp and myself, and we talked to the federal police there, the authorities. this is a worldwide problem, and we have our own problem in our own country. if we make this one of our major parts of our foreign policy, we not only lift girls and women into the roles into where they want to be, we also help our economy stabilize. we help our democracy stabilize. because this is evidence of barbarity. and the world just can't stand by while this kind of barbarity is going on and say it's not okay. it's not our problem. >> thank you very much. >>> up next, the latest on the search for flight 370. we have an exclusive new poll here. apparently, most americans believe terrorists have that plane. >>> plus, hollywood's top stars protesting a man the president has called a good friend. >>> and a pilot crashes his plane into a home in colorado. did he target that house? when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and i

i would say your theory is true in a state like north dakota with heidi heitkamp in 2012.hat they did smartly was they kept her sort of competitive. she looked credible. she ran very good ads. it was close enough that it became that you weren't throwing your vote -- she was a credible, serious person in a state where probably you said would you rather have a republican or democrat, the republican wins 99. 9% of the time. but cease in tshe's in the argu they've defined her in a way that's palatable. we've sat in focus groups before. the way people make their minds up about elections, it's not that they go down a rank order on issues and check this one off and check that one off. it's feel many times. you have to be in the conversation so feel matters. >> sasha, make your case. >> there's a very small slice in the federal electorate that's actually persuadable. what we've seen from a whole bunch of research is the effects of television ads of persuading people doesn't hold for that long. the bets the democrats are making in the senate race is to spend money building the infr

senator heitkamp has been extraordinarily help. senator mccaskill has been wonderful. senator tester has been helping. senator done lee. there are so many democrats over here trying to work with our colleagues. yet, when we're this close, it's not about amendments. it's about keystone. that is the amendment. keystone. and a separate vote on keystone, a separate vote on energy efficiency. we can press the president and the house to act and get those two things hopefully to the president's desk. that's the best we can do. now what the president decides to do after that, i don't know. he has a responsibility. we have a responsibility. he will exercise it as he sees fit, but we need to do our job. can't worry about doing his job. we need to do our job. so it's time to build the keystone pipeline. i'm going to submit to the record the dozens of comments made by my republican friends about how important it is to build the pipeline. they didn't say let's build the pipeline and also pass three other important pieces of legislation. they didn't say let's build the pipeline, but

i went there with senator heitkamp and cindy mccain, wife of senator john mccain.as you know, about 50 percent of the heroin is grown in mexico, and 60 percent of the aaron that we have come into the -- heroin that we have come into the u.s. is either grown or distributed through mexico. just as senator sessions wuss talking about -- was talking about, we've seen a lot of overdoses in minnesota. in the first half of 2013 alone, 91 people died of opiate-related overdoses in hennepin and ramsey county alone. it was a significant increase. hospital visits for heroin nearly tripped from '04 to 2011, and in the 7,000-person community of st. francis, minnesota, three young people have died of opiate overdoses since may. just to give you a sense of why this was important to me, why it was one of the reasons i went down to mexico. and the things we learned there as you know and you and i talked about, the prosecutors there and the police working with our law enforcement and dea are really ramping it up on the cartels. they were able to capture, the mexican police captured

, who will be down here to talk about it in a minute, my fellow senator in north dakota, senator heitkamp, and many others, many others on both sides of the aisle, republicans and democra democrats. it's really not a partisan issue. it's not. it's an issue of whether or not we're going to make this decision for the people of this country and build an energy future for this country, energy security for this country. energy security for this country, where we produce more energy in north america between the united states and canada than we consume. so we don't have to rely on energy from the middle east or from venezuela or other countries that may not share our beliefs, our views and our interests. that's the decision. or is this going to be a decision for special interest groups? now, if the president refuses to make that decision, we in this body have a responsibility to do it and we've put forward a bill to approve it. and, again, i thank my colleagues for their hard work on this bill and i ask others to join us. let's make this decision and let's make it for the american people. with t

i've worked with senator hoeven, of course, on this and senator heitkamp. they have both taken a lead on this as well as senator franken to get this done. the region avoided flooding this year. the river has been, however, in major flood stage six out of the last eight years. in 2009, the year of the record flood, the river rose to more than 40 feet. in minnesota and north dakota, the red river doesn't divide us. working together, it actually brings us together and unites us, and it is that spirit of solidarity that drives our efforts in the red river basin. floods damage homes, destroy crops and hold entire cities hostage. the fargo-morehead flood diversion project is critical to safety and economic development in the region and finding a permanent solution to the issue makes much more economic sense than continuing to fight the flooding and repair damages year after year. the wrda bill also helps address flood protection for roso, minnesota. roso has recovered from a flood in 2002 that caused widespread damage but the area needs flood protection to reduce

senator heitkamp supports it. but as my friend on the republican side should understand this. when boehner says he can't take up an issue unless the majority of his caucus is for it, they all jump up and down and say go, speaker boehner, yes, that's the way to go. yet when harry reid tries to stand up and say listen, i'm going as far as i can go here, the majority of my caucus doesn't support keystone but i'm going to allow a vote on it and they want to just, you know, push that aside as if he is not cooperating, is disingenuous. it's hypocritical and it is unfair. now, harry can fight his own battles, he doesn't need me to fight them for him. but let me just say to the other side i don't want to hear from any of you all, we can't get that done because even though we have the votes in the house we don't have a majority of republicans. this is about republicans and democrats sometimes crossing the aisle to do things that are right for our country and maybe not being held hostage by the side wings of our parties and i wish i had a little more help around here doing that. anyway,

heitkamp: thank you. today i want to honor and pay tribute to our men and women who serve this country every day as america's peace officers. this week is national police week, and back in 1962, president kennedy designated may 15 as peace officer memorial day. this is the day we take pause and we thank those peace officers who help us every day keep our families safe, keep our streets safe and keep law and order so that we can live the lives that we live in the united states of america. our law officers wake up every morning, put on a uniform to show us they're with us. it's a symbol they wear proudly and that we look up to. they're there to protect our communities, our families, and, in fact, every one of us. that's a tall order, and they frequently place themselves in dangerous situations. every day, perhaps a wife, perhaps a child, perhaps a mother, whoever is in their family, watches them walk out the door and wonders will they return safely. few among us know what that is, what it is to make a life-