Hold The Tea, Please: Brownbag Lunch Vigils As Forums For Health Care Reform Nationwide

Hold the tea, please: Brownbag lunch vigils as forums for health care reform nationwide
by Samantha Michaels | Medill on the Hill

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress across the country were greeted by rather unusual lunch dates Wednesday at noon when they left their offices for a midday meal.

Waiting outside with brown paper lunch bags, progressive Democrats, anti-war groups and nurses associations gathered at about 65 congressional offices nationwide, urging their representatives to stop federal spending on warfare and increase funds for health care.

“Activists are doing everything from having lunch with representatives to standing outside where they’re a little less friendly about us barging in, to having very intimate discussions them,” said Donna Smith, a member of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and a community organizer who is spearheading the movement in Washington.

Called “brown bag lunch vigils,” these gatherings are in some ways a response to the conservative tea party movement.

“We’re countering all these ‘teabagger’ efforts, showing that there are an awful lot more ‘brownbaggers’ out here who are extremely concerned about this nation spending more and more on war,” said Smith, who is also a national co-chair for PDA’s “Healthcare NOT Warfare” campaign. Read more.