U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) has had a busy month.

From delivering the official boisterous response to President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress and a panel discussion on tariffs with the Consul General of Canada and Detroit Regional Chamber President at Wayne State University’s Industry Innovation Center, the junior senator from Michigan has been traveling to speaking engagements to gain insights on areas of concern to her continents.

Macomb County was among her stops Tuesday.

“This was a great opportunity for business and community leaders to meet the senator and for her to get to know Macomb County,” said Kelley Lovati, CEO of Macomb County Chamber and host of the roundtable discussion held at Macomb Community College’s (MCC) University Center in Clinton Township.

“I liked that she was aware of what we have to offer.”

“She’s extremely knowledgeable about Macomb County,” said MCC President James Sawyer IV, who was among the community leaders listening to Slotkin discuss some of her priorities, the preservation of the fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township being one of them.

Last week, she and the U.S. Sen. Gary Peters joined a group of lawmakers leading bipartisan legislation to preserve the U.S. Air Force’s fighter force structure and support the recapitalization of Air National Guard fighter missions.

“With emerging threats on the rise our U.S. Air Forces should retain its air combat power at SANG,” Slotkin said, in a news release. “The National Guard hosts the majority of America’s deployable combat air forces and the fighter mission at Selfridge plays a vital role in defending the entire country. Keeping the fighter mission will ensure that decades of combat-proven experience, based right here in Michigan, from our pilots, operators, maintainers and force support experts will continue.”

Last year SANG was picked to host a new squadron of KC-46A refueling tankers, which will be deployed by the U.S. Air Force for the next 50 years. The base was officially designated as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Northern Border Mission Center, a move that could mean even more work for local defense manufacturers.

This was another area Slotkin touched on.

“We need to figure out how to get more local manufacturers into the defense business,” Slotkin said, noting that more manufacturers should be applying for defense contracts.

Slotkin knows there’s a lot of red tape involved and can sometimes take years to be approved but they should still be going after them.

She also told the group that Macomb County needs to be a little louder when it comes to what it wants.

“She said we need to bring our alpha voice to negotiations,” Lovati said.

Among those in attendance during Tuesday’s discussion was Rick Simms, director of STARBASE.

The program at SANG, and one of 90 around the country, provides schoolchildren with hands-on activities and learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, math and other areas of study. It was temporarily closed due to budget cuts. Simms was anxious to hear if she heard anything more about it.

During federal budget talks the House of Representatives and the Senate could not agree on how much to allocate for the STARBASE programs. The House proposed $60 million while the Senate countered with $20 million. As a result of the disparity, DoD’s financial reporting and accounting office would only release $20 million and with Trump signing a Republican-controlled continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown the decision remains in limbo.

“I want to catch up with what they’ve done,” Slotkin said, in response to Simms’ query about the future of STARBASE.

“I will try and get some answers. Maybe we can come up with some ideas on how to get some funding,” added Slotkin, who added she appreciates the bipartisan work ethics that exist in the state’s third most populous county.

“Macomb County people just want to work and get things done,” she said. “They’re not interested in all of the nasty politics that go on, and that’s a community that I work well with.”