RAISE UP Act: A silly acronym, but dropout bill is worthy of consideration

Members of Congress have always been good at stretching out clever acronyms for effect. Thus was born the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act" (USA PATRIOT) the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act" (CAN-SPAM) and the "Community Oriented Policing Services and Key Investments in Developmental Services Act" (COPS and KIDS.)

Really, we can't make this stuff up. This is what your senators and representatives do in their spare time. 

Against those gems, the "Reengaging Americans in Serious Education by Uniting Program Act" (RAISE UP) hardly seems worth a mention. But while the name might not be all that impressive, the efforts of the men and women behind the bill are worthy of recognition.

The legislation, introduced by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, is intended to coordinate existing initiatives to work together to provide better educational support to dropouts.

But the bill, which was co-sponsored by Senators Al Franken and Sherrod Brown, has not been acted on by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, despite Franken's membership in that body known as... wait for it... HELP.

Michigan Congressman Dale Kildee is hoping for better luck in the House of Representatives, where he has introduced a duplicate bill.

Want to voice your support? Let Senate and House leaders know.