This action is for everyone who lives in Vermont. We want to organize people to put pressure on members of Congress (or people who are running to become members of Congress) to cancel all student debt and make public universities completely free. This can take many forms. Reach out to each other, start talking and making plans. Here is some information that you might find helpful.
Senate
Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat) has not yet taken a position on S. 1947 College for All Act of 2019. Can you convince them to co-sponsor it?
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the College for All legislation.
Great news! Senator Bernie Sanders is the person who wrote the College for All legislation and introduced it in the Senate. It isn’t just important to put pressure on members of congress to support real solutions, it is also important to thank them when they do the right thing. Please thank Sen. Sanders for supporting free college and a student debt jubilee!
House
Rep. Peter Welch (Democrat) has not yet taken a position on H.R. 3473 College for All Act of 2019 (this bill would make all public colleges and universities free) or H.R. 3448 Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 (this bill would cancel all $1.6 trillion of student debt). Can you convince Rep. Welch to co-sponsor or publicly support these bills?
Use the comments below to plan and coordinate with each other on a state-wide level.
CLICK TO EXPAND FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Indivisible Guide provides good advice about how to set up a meeting with your members of congress (or the people currently campaigning for office), how to show up at town halls, how to write letters to the editor, etc. We can do all of that and more. Feel free to get creative and come up with your own plans in addition to these tried and true methods.
Use this data sheet StudentDebt_VT.pdf (1.1 MB) about student debt in Vermont.
Use this study by economists at the Levy Institute which outlines several positive effects of canceling all student debt.
The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) have a great resources about organizing for College for All. If there is a YDSA chapter near you please reach out and coordinate with them.
