A ballroom full of county officials was awaiting House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Monday when the kitchen doors burst open to reveal about 500 protesters waving empty lunch trays and chanting, "No more cuts."

"Don't take the food out of the children's mouths," said Maxine Nelson of Pine Bluff, Ark., who, like the others, belongs to the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.