EAST LANSING - On Friday, February 21st, a State of the 8th District Town Hall Meeting was held at Haslett High School.

Hundreds of residents showed up including the media.

This was U.S. Representative for Michigan's 8th District, Elissa Slotkin's, first State of the 8th District Town Hall Meeting. Special Guest, Julie Brixie, 69th District State Representative was also present during the meeting.

Both representatives spoke throughout the entire meeting and addressed key issues such as universal healthcare, border security, education and infrastructure.

Congresswoman Slotkin announced she will be co-leading a major, bipartisan piece of legislation in the house called the Insulin Price Reduction Act, which would lower the skyrocketing prices of insulin back down to what they were in 2006.

"The fact that we won't let medicare negotiate for drug prices, for instance, it just pure and unadulterated greed," said Slotkin. "There's no better explanation. We all want the drug companies to make a profit, we really want them to keep inventing the best life-saving drugs. We do that here in America, more than anybody. Those drugs that they are all buying, across the world, are our drugs. But we don't have to be the ones who pay for everyone else's cheap prices."

Slotkin's PFAS Monitoring Act will have a profound impact on the quality of drinking water and require the EPA for the first time to test for at least 30 PFAS substances in drinking water.

She also announced the introduction of a border security bill, called the INTEL at Our Border Act. This act will require the Department of Homeland Security to create a comprehensive strategy to utilize technologies in surveillance, 3-D modeling, radar, and laser scanning for detecting underground tunnels.

While Slotkin discussed about voting and attracting a younger crowd of residents, Chaplain PJ Anderson, who is affiliated with the National Restoration To Military Families' Team and Slotkin's advisory board for Veterans, attended the Town Hall Meeting and spoke about the important of voting and getting out in the community and expressing your voice.

"I don't think people understand how significant it is to vote," said Anderson. "What an honor it is to vote. People in my ancestry, who were not permitted to vote, and not permitted to read, not permitted to go to school, and how we thought to be able to vote."

"My ancestors were killed trying to vote, and now we have the freedom to do so. Which is extremely meaningful cause we are participating in a process, that shapes the Congress, that shapes the Senate, that shapes the local officials, and that is our voice. Our vote is our voice, our vote doesn't count unless we vote. So that means a lot to me personally, it meant a lot to my parents and my siblings, and we are doing our best to get our children and our grandchildren involved in voting. Get some education, know why you are voting, and who you vote for by the issues that are important to the voter."

At the end of the meeting, Representatives Slotkin and Brixie answered questions from the public concerning these key issues and moving forward with this year's election.