According to press secretary Jennifer Gore, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is submerging into the trenches of the nation's drug war. Frank and 55 other Congress members launched bill H.R. 1184, also known as the Removing Impediments to Student's Education (RISE) Act March 9. The act is designed to repeal a 1998 drug provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

If the bill were to pass, students denied financial aid due to previous drug misdemeanors, felonies and state or federal drug offenses would receive financial aid instead of losing it. Presently, an amendment to the Higher Education Act proposed by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) withholds financial aid from students under those circumstances.

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