My congressman, John James, has entered the witness protection program.

No one has seen Congressman James in months. No one has heard from him. Since he was elected in November, he hasn’t held any in-person events in our district covering Macomb and parts of Oakland counties. To find him, I and several residents of his district went to his office. We politely asked to speak with our member. Instead, police were called and we were unceremoniously removed from James’ office.

The fact remains: The man has practically disappeared, which is too bad for his constituents because we have questions about why the Trump Administration and Congress want to slash our health care, gut Social Security and take services away from veterans.

These are issues that affect all of us. We want to know why President Trump, Elon Musk and their people want to make things harder for us. James could provide some much-needed answers except that he’s gone missing, with no sign of him re-emerging anytime soon.

We simply want to know whether James will stand up to Trump and Musk as they try to slash our health care. Someday, when he emerges from the hole he’s cowering in, maybe James can tell his constituents whether he supports an extremist, reckless and irresponsible budget that takes away health care, funding for school children and services for veterans to give huge tax breaks to billionaires.

By gutting the Department of Veterans Affairs, they are forcing veterans to struggle without lifesaving services. In Congress, James and his fellow Republicans want to slash more than $800 billion from vital programs that keep Americans safe and healthy.

According to an analysis by the U.S. House Committee on the Budget, James’ support for this budget would take away health care from more than 182,000 in Macomb and Oakland counties. This includes more than 67,000 children and 17,000 seniors.

By not protecting health care, James will make health care more expensive for many of our neighbors in the district. According to the Regional Leadership Council, a 60-year-old in my community who gets health care through the Marketplace will see premiums go up by more than $8,300 a year, a 116% increase unless James stands up to Republicans’ longstanding campaign to end the Affordable Care Act, including Trump’s recent executive orders to weaken health care access.

Trump and Musk are taking away resources that help our children learn and thrive in school. With Trump slashing the Department of Education, I want to know how children in my community can get an education that prepares them for jobs because their schools will now no longer have the resources to provide good educational programs, keep class sizes small and hire enough teachers and school staff.

While Trump and James’ fellow MAGA Republicans threaten to stick hardworking Michiganders with higher costs and a less secure future, they will happily give handouts to their CEO and billionaire cronies: Under the Republican budget plan, the richest 0.1% of people in James’ district will get a $314,000 tax break and large corporations get an eye-popping handout averaging $2 trillion.

While critical resources everyday Michiganders rely on are on the chopping block, James himself has no trouble taking a $2.7-million taxpayer bailout for his business early during the COVID pandemic.

In light of all this glaring unfairness, James should make himself available to his constituents to explain the logic of making life more difficult for tens of thousands of people in his district who are already struggling to make ends meet.

James owes us a meeting. After all, he is our employee. We pay James’ $174,000-a-year salary and his lavish benefits and perks. Our taxes foot the bill for the lease on his nice office in Warren and pay the salaries of his staff.

If James has the courage to rob Michigan families so billionaires can get even richer, then he should have the courage to face his own constituents and answer our questions.

Janet John is a Clinton Township resident who votes in Congressional District 10.

Editor’s note: The Macomb Daily reached out to James’ staff to confirm the Feb. 20 incident referenced by the author. A spokesperson provided videos, a police report and other documents related to that event along with the following statement: “Congressman John James and his staff remained focused on serving our constituents and the community. From passports to the IRS and veterans’ cases and grants, and everything else in-between it’s a busy time of year for our office assisting with federal agencies — as such, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy for partisan, paid-for, political protestors disrupting our office and staff’s operations.”