On Friday, Unrig Our Economy—a left-of-center activist organization pushing for national economic reform and wealth redistribution—will launch its new “Billionaires Eat First” campaign with events in Washington, D.C. and Montgomery, Alabama.
The campaign seeks to raise awareness around the Trump administration’s cuts to SNAP and the withholding of SNAP benefits during the recently-concluded government shutdown, arguing that Republicans are gutting food assistance in favor of funding tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.
“Across America, kids, seniors, and veterans have lost vital food assistance. Why? Because Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress chose to give billionaires and big corporations massive tax breaks, while cutting SNAP benefits in their tax law, and heartlessly withholding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown,” the organization states on its website. “We’re standing up to say: it’s callous, it’s cruel, and it’s wrong.”
Friday’s events in D.C. and Montgomery will be among several taking place in cities across the country throughout the latter half of November, with events also planned in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Peekskill, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; and multiple cities in Pennsylvania.
At each stop, the campaign will donate truckloads of food to local area food banks as organizers look “to spotlight the cruel and callous impact of [SNAP] cuts on children, seniors, veterans, and more.” According to organizers, the campaign will donate a total of 60,000 meals.
The Montgomery event will feature Democratic state lawmakers including Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton and Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, as well as Alabama Arise Executive Director Robyn Hyden, other local leaders, advocates and families directly impacted by SNAP cuts.
Programming is set to begin at 4 p.m. at the State Capitol.
“The campaign calls on Americans, especially those in communities most affected, to speak out and demand restoration of critical food assistance for those struggling to put meals on the table,” organizers stated in an official press release ahead of the event.
