Elon Musk's mother came to his defense Wednesday and ripped President Joe Biden after the Federal Communications Commission denied a nearly $900 million federal subsidy for Starlink, a satellite internet division of SpaceX.
In a post on X, which her son owns along with SpaceX, Maye Musk, 75, commented on a thread by Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner on the FCC, as to why the agency denied an $885 million subsidy to Starlink to supply internet access to 642,000 rural homes and businesses in the U.S.
"I am the mother of @elonmusk," Maye Musk wrote. "His goal is to make this world a better place. @POTUS wants to stop him.
"Have you any idea how furious I am? People in other countries are proud of Elon and do not understand the US President's motive. Please tell me how I should answer them."
The FCC has five commissioners, three of which are aligned with the party in power at the White House. The two Republicans, Carr and Nathan Simington, were appointed to five-year terms by former President Donald Trump.
In December 2020 under Trump, Starlink was the winning bidder for the contract as part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program. But in August 2022, the FCC said in a news release that Starlink, which said it supplies internet service to more than 1 million locations around the world using nearly 4,000 satellites, failed to demonstrate that it "could deliver the promised service" in the second phase of the application process.
The FCC on Tuesday announced it denied Starlink's appeal of the decision.
"The FCC's recent decision — like many of the other actions being taken by federal agencies against Musk — fits the Biden Administration's pattern of regulatory harassment. It is a decision that cannot be explained by an objective application of law, facts, or policy," Carr posted.
"First, the FCC revokes Starlink's $885 million award by making up an entirely new standard of review that no entity could ever pass and then applying that novel standard to only one entity: Starlink. The decision does not even grapple with the evidence — it simply ignores it.
"Second, rural America ends up paying the highest price for this decision. Over 642,000 rural homes & businesses would have gained high-speed Internet access for the first time ever under the deal. But the FCC just vaporized that commitment & replaced it with … nothing."