Americans who can’t afford beef a year into President Donald Trump’s second term “have so many proteins to choose from,” U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, said in response to a question about steep food costs.
She made the remarks during a Sunday interview with WLOX host Hugh Keeton, who asked her what Republicans are doing to get the cost of living under control, pointing to a key 2024 campaign promise President Donald Trump made when he said he would “end inflation on day one.”
“Well, the good thing is we passed what we call the One Big Beautiful Bill. There are so many things in there,” Hyde-Smith said, referring to President Donald Trump’s package of Medicaid cuts, SNAP cuts, tax breaks and more. That bill killed hopes for Medicaid expansion that would’ve covered an additional 300,000 working Mississippians.
During the Feb. 22 interview, Hyde-Smith noted that “the price of fuel affects everything,” and argued that lower gas prices will help bring down prices because of lower transportation costs. She credited Trump’s rollback of former President Joe Biden’s limits on fossil fuels.
“Now that we can undo some of those cumbersome things that restricted energy production It is on everybody’s mind. It certainly is me at my house,” she said. “And you know, you have so many proteins to choose from. And all commodities go through peaks and valleys. It is a global market, but we will be seeing a difference, I truly believe, because of so many things.”
Hyde-Smith, a cattle rancher herself, serves on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.
Scott Colom, one of the Democrats vying for the party’s nomination in Mississippi’s March 10 U.S. Senate primary to run against her in the November midterms, harshly criticized Hyde-Smith’s remarks on beef prices in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“Mississippi families aren’t choosing between beef and other proteins as a lifestyle preference. They’re stretching every dollar to put food on the table,” he said. “Meanwhile, Cindy Hyde-Smith sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and her answer to Mississippians struggling at the grocery store is to just eat something else? That’s an insult to the people who sent her to D.C. Mississippi deserves a senator who fights for lower costs, not one who tells you your grocery list is your problem.”
Other Democrats running in the March 10 primary include Albert Littell and Priscilla W. Till. Hyde-Smith also faces a challenge from Sarah Adlakha in the Republican primary on the same day.