One Republican member of the House of Representatives has lately been inundated with calls from his constituents, and is now suggesting people contact him through his website instead.
According to progressive talk radio network WCPT 820, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) is tired of his office phone ringing with calls from angry Michiganders. He recently told Kalamazoo, Michigan-based CBS affiliate WWMT that he "prefers people do not call his office." The outlet reported that Huizenga instead prefers constituents go through his website "where people's addresses can be legitimized to confirm whether it's coming from a mix of real people, rather than a vocal minority, who are truly from his district."
Notably, that section of WWMT's article — which was initially posted to X by the Senate research director for Democratic-aligned group American Bridge — has since been removed, and an editor's note now appears at the bottom of the piece that says the article was updated "to reflect a correction regarding how to best contact U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga," which is"going through his website." The article instead reads: "[H]is office is being overwhelmed with complaints, but said these criticisms are coming from what he calls a 'vocal minority.'"
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"There is a concerted and organized effort to come in and be disruptive," the Michigan Republican said. He added that he blamed "outside partisans" for the wave of angry calls to his office.
"We know [this] because people are posting that. Right?" He continued. "I mean, they are saying 'we don't want them to have a moment's peace.'"
Huizenga is one of the House Republicans who recently voted for the Republican budget resolution that would cut more than $800 billion from Medicaid (which provides health insurance for low-income families) while extending President Donald Trump's tax cuts for another ten years. Extending those tax cuts — which disproportionately benefit the richest Americans — would cost roughly $4.5 trillion, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office.
AlterNet's attempts to contact Rep. Huizenga's Washington D.C. office by phone were unsuccessful. Callers are offered an option to press 2 to leave a comment after a roughly minute-long automated main menu prompt, but upon pressing 2, callers are only told to contact Huizenga via his website before the call cuts off.
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The Michigan congressman's decision to not have a human answer his office's phone comes on the heels of Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) — the chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) — encouraging members to stop holding town hall meetings. The NRCC chair blamed the increase of contentious Republican town hall meetings on progressive activists from groups like MovOn.org and Indivisible "hijacking these events."
Click here to read WCPT 820's full report.