Small town USA is at risk of losing crucial federal support for a $42.45 billion plan to bring high-speed internet to rural areas, as the Trump administration allegedly prioritizes enriching Elon Musk over underserved communities, according to a warning from a top departing official at the Commerce Department in an email.

Evan Feinman, who led the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program for the past three years, has called on governors nationwide to pressure their representatives in Congress to prevent the Trump administration from implementing policies he deems could “deeply harm” American homes and businesses.

Feinman’s statement points out the unsettling potential result of forgoing fiber-optic networks for satellite-based internet services in rural areas, which could disadvantage already underserved communities to benefit the world’s wealthiest individual.

First reported by Politico, the warning^[1] suggests a technology-neutral approach might favor Musk’s Starlink, which could connect communities to the internet via satellites much more cheaply, but with likely diminished speeds and increased costs to consumers, as well as less stable service and fewer job opportunities in infrastructure development.

The BEAD program, enacted with bipartisan support in 2021, aimed to bridge the digital divide by expanding high-speed internet to rural America, promoting the use of fiber networks for their reliability and affordability.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s proposal to revisit the BEAD program could upset states’ approved plans to utilize billions in funding for broadband development, leaving them “in limbo,” with approved projects across Louisiana, Delaware, and Nevada stalled without access to federal monies.

Feinman contends that changes could still be made by influencing the administration to adjust labor and wage provisions without stripping states of their ability to secure optimal connectivity for their constituents.

As of now, neither the Commerce Department nor Starlink have commented on the potential changes to the BEAD program.

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