Bluegrass Times

The Biden administration announced funding for a $40 billion project to connect families across the country with high- speed Internet, according to a news release from June 26.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) shared his disapproval of the plan on Twitter after the announcement.

"Today Biden announced $42 billion to get 8.5 million families broadband by 2030," the congressman tweeted. "Come on man! That’s $4,941 per family, to be taken from those families and other families in taxes. @elonmusk’s Starlink can do it for $599 per family, and you don’t have to wait 7 years!"

According to the White House news release, the grants will be distributed through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program to all US states and territories, with each state getting at least $107 million and several receiving more than $1 billion in funding. The grant is an effort to get reliable and affordable high speed internet access to all small businesses in every remote area of the country by 2030, the news release said.

“Today, [vice president Kamala Harris] and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America — everyone in America to high-speed Internet by — and affordable high-speed Internet — by 2030,” President Biden said during the announcement. “It’s the biggest investment in high-speed Internet ever, because for today’s economy to work for everyone, Internet access is just as important as electricity was or water or other basic services.”

Elon Musk’s Starlink Services is a satellite-based program run by his company SpaceX. It offers “high-speed, low-latency internet across the globe, even in the most remote and rural locations.” The offerings do not require contracts from customers and provide a starting kit that includes a wi-fi router and instructions on enabling internet access. Starlink is currently available in the majority of the U.S., with expansion in some of the southeastern region coming in 2023.