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We The 45 Million

Website:

www.cancelstudentdebt.org/
Type:

Student debt cancellation activism
Executive Director:

Melissa Byrne

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We The 45 Million seeks government elimination of all student debt 1 and supports completely taxpayer-funded college education in the United States. 2 It describes student loans as a “poor tax” 3 and a failure of public policy, not personal responsibility. 4

Activities

We The 45 Million is a left-of-center campaign of working to cancel all student debt 5 and institute free college in the United States. 6 The organization’s efforts has been described as a culmination of a “yearslong movement pushing the Democratic Party, and later the Biden administration, to unite behind student debt cancellation as a rallying issue.” 7

We The 45 Million describes student loans as a “poor tax,” racist, exclusionist, harmful to the LGBT community, unfair to women and mothers, harmful to debtholders’ retirement, predatory, and an obstacle to college education. 8 The group also calls student debt a failure of public policy, not personal responsibility. 9

The group has advocated for the Biden administration to cancel all federal student debt by using executive action under the 1965 Higher Education Act; forgiving outstanding college debt via Congressional action; and enacting legislation making all vocational schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities taxpayer-funded and free at the point-of-service for all students. 10

In February 2023, We, The 45 Million was a co-sponsor of left-of-center Young Invincibles’ “People’s Rally for Student Debt Cancellation.” Other left-of-center organizations that sponsored this event included Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC), NAACP, Alliance for Justice, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Center for Responsible Lending, Debt Collective, Demand Justice, Dream Defenders, Future Coalition, Hip Hop Caucus, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), March On, MoveOn, National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association (NEA), National Urban League, New Georgia Project, NextGen America, Pizza to the Polls, Public Rights Project, Rise Inc., Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and 1000 Women Strong. 11 12

We The 45 Million has also organized and led rallies in favor of cancelling student debt at the U.S. Supreme Court prior to and during oral arguments challenging the Biden administration’s efforts to do so by executive decree. 13 In 2022, the group organized rallies outside of the White House 14 15 and the U.S. Capitol building in support of student debt cancellation. 16 17 The organization has also worked directly with left-of-center Rise Inc., NAACP, Student Borrower Protection Center, Strike Debt, and others to push the Biden administration to enact student debt cancellation policies. 18

Leadership

Melissa Byrne is the executive director of We The 45 Million. 19 She founded the organization in June 2021. 20 Byrne also runs her own campaign consultancy for left-of-center local and national organizations. Previously, she worked on the unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign and the unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). She was also the Pennsylvania and New Hampshire state director for left-of-center MoveOn.org in 2016. Byrne has done additional organizing work for the left-of-center Campaign to Strengthen Social Security, Social Security Works, Earth Day Network, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Obama for America, Win Without War, and the AFL-CIO labor federation. 21

She supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. 22 Byrne has called Twitter CEO Elon Musk “Apartheid bro,” 23 written that the U.S. Constitution is a document “for white men by white men,” 24 and claimed that former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “hates black people.” 25

Funding

We, the 45 Million receives funding from individual donations that are routed through left-of-center donation facilitation apparatus ActBlue Charities. 26

References

  1. “Donate to We The 45M.” ActBlue Charities. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/we-the-45m.
  2. “Home.” We The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/.
  3. “About Us.” We, The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/about-us.
  4. “Home.” We The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/.
  5. “Donate to We The 45M.” ActBlue Charities. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/we-the-45m.
  6. “Home.” We The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/.
  7. Rodriguez, Jesus A. “The color of student debt relief.” Politico. February 28, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-recast/2023/02/28/students-of-color-loan-relief-00084798.
  8. “About Us.” We, The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/about-us.
  9. “Home.” We The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/.
  10. “Home.” We The 45 Million. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.cancelstudentdebt.org/.
  11. “Borrowers and Advocates from Across the Country Gather in Front of the U.S. Supreme Court to Demand Right to Student Debt Relief.” Young Invincibles. February 28, 2023. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://younginvincibles.org/borrowers-and-advocates-from-across-the-country-gather-in-front-of-the-u-s-supreme-court-to-demand-right-to-student-debt-relief/.
  12. “Tweet.” Young Invincibles. Posted January 17, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/YoungInvincible/status/1615461653998632960?cxt=HHwWgIDUrZb0oussAAAA.
  13. Sheffey, Ayelet. “Student-loan borrowers are gearing up to camp overnight out side the Supreme Court ahead of arguments on Biden’s debt relief to ‘make sure that the justices look into the eyes of borrowers’.” Business Insider. February 20, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-blocked-scotus-arguments-camping-out-2023-2.
  14. “Tweet.” Emilee D. Miranda Twitter. Posted August 25, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/EmileeDMiranda/status/1562836932089896961?cxt=HHwWgoCjsZr6p7ArAAAA.
  15. “Tweet.” We the 45 Million Twitter. Posted April 6, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/WeThe45M/status/1511757951391961098?cxt=HHwWlMC48Zv26_opAAAA.
  16. Cowley, Stacy. “Government Starts Taking Applications for Student Debt Cancellation.” New York Times. October 15, 2022. Accessed via Web Archive March 19, 2023. https://archive.md/zX55m.
  17. Erin Doherty and Sareen Habeshian. “Where things stand with Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.” Axios. December 12, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2022. https://www.axios.com/2022/10/03/federal-student-loan-forgiveness-program.
  18. “Update: Biden’s Student Debt Cancellation Applications are Paused Due to Lawsuits. We Will send Updates As Soon As We Have Them. Rise. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://risefree.org/we-won-learn-more-about-student-debt-relief/.
  19. Sheffy, Ayelet. “Over 500 students are at the Supreme Court to plug Biden’s student-loan forgiveness because the ‘economic mobility of over 40 million Americans is dependent on the survival of this program.’” Business Insider. February 28, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-student-loan-debt-relief-blocked-students-flood-supreme-court-2023-2.
  20. “Experience.” Melissa Byrne LinkedIn. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacbyrne/details/experience/.
  21.  “Experience.” Melissa Byrne LinkedIn. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacbyrne/details/experience/.
  22. “Tweet.” Melissa Byrnes Twitter. Posted Ma7 29, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/mcbyrne/status/1266504344691781634.
  23. [1] “Tweet.” Melissa Byrnes Twitter. Posted March 18, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/mcbyrne/status/1637131561928888321.
  24. “Tweet.” Melissa Byrnes Twitter. Posted June 24, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/mcbyrne/status/1540339563180298240.
  25. “Tweet.” Melissa Byrnes Twitter. Posted July 29, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://twitter.com/mcbyrne/status/1553115445607137280.
  26. “Donate to We The 45M.” ActBlue Charities. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/we-the-45m.
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