LANSING — The state House passed legislation March 3 to have the state pay for $152 million in runway improvements at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, to help ensure there is no backtracking on a promised new fighter mission for the base.
The supplemental spending bill for the 2026 budget year passed the House in a 65-41 vote, shortly after it was announced at a Capitol news conference by Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township. The bill now moves to the Senate.
Hall said at the news conference that the needed runway and taxiway improvements were supposed to be among the items funded by the federal government, but he wants the state to step up and pay for the projects under an “accelerated timeline” he said has the support of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“We got that commitment from President Trump,” Hall said in reference to Trump’s April 29 promise, during a visit to Selfridge, that Michigan would receive 21 F-15EX fighter jets, solidifying the base’s future in Michigan as an employer and generator of economic activity.
“The best thing we can do to ensure that happens is make sure it happens while President Trump is president.”
Stacey LaRouche, a spokeswoman for Whitmer, did not answer directly when asked March 3 whether Whitmer supports using state funds to accelerate the runway and taxiway improvements.
Whitmer remains “laser-focused on securing a new fighter mission at Selfridge and supporting the brave service members who step up for our communities every day,” LaRouche said.
“The governor will continue to work with the Legislature and federal officials to secure funding to make improvements to Selfridge for the new fighter and tanker missions,” she said.
Hall said the Air Force has been talking about 2029 or 2030 for the new fighter jet deployment, but he wants to make sure it happens in 2028, before Trump leaves office, in case the next president does not follow through.
Plans call for realignment and extension of the main Selfridge runway and related work on taxiways. The federal government would still pay for new hangars and other needed improvements, but the runway additions are “the most time sensitive” part of the plan, Hall said.
With a phaseout of the A-10 aircraft at Selfridge underway, Michigan political leaders from both parties lobbied the federal government for years for a new fighter mission to protect the future of the base, fearing it might close without a replacement fighter mission, taking nearly $1 billion in economic fortune from its home base of Macomb County and the rest of the state with it.
“I’ve come in person to lay to rest any doubts about Selfridge,” Trump said when he visited the base in April, where he was joined by Whitmer, Hall and other Michigan political leaders.
At the time, Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, adjutant general of the Michigan National Guard, said he expected the new planes to start arriving in 2028.
Hall said he hopes to have the legislation passed by both chambers of the Legislature and sent to Whitmer before the legislative spring break.
This story has been updated to add new information.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Speaker Hall says state should pay $152M for Selfridge runway upgrades
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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