FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker was put in the hot seat on Tuesday as he fielded questions from Representative Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s subcommittee on aviation, regarding the delayed fifth flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.

During a committee hearing focused on FAA oversight of Boeing amid the manufacturer’s recent safety woes, Kiley squeezed in a few questions about Starship, which according to SpaceX has been bogged down by licensing issues “ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

“America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Thursday.