Mississippi Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is facing backlash after dodging a question about high beef prices amid the nationwide affordability crisis and telling WLOX news viewers that they have "so many proteins to choose from."
Last month, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed that food prices were coming down, even as the Consumer Price Index shows grocery costs rose 0.7% in December. Beef, which Rollins elevated near the top of the food pyramid in the dietary guidelines she recently unveiled, increased 1% over the month and was up 16.4% compared with a year earlier.
Republicans have faced pressure from constituents nationwide to address the rising cost of living, and when Hyde-Smith was asked about what her party plans to do to bring prices down, she stressed that the "Big Beautiful Bill," passed last year, would play a significant role in the effort.
She gave the following rambling answer that did not once address concerns about the high price of beef—dodging the question and downplaying concerns by insisting that there are other food options available:
“There are so many things in there. Just the child tax credits... that will affect 40 million families. There are all the reduction to make the cuts permanent. It is so many opportunities there that once they go into play, just with getting your tax refund in 2026 is going to be bigger."
"And once we can get those things implemented, you’re going to see a difference, but right now, you know... the cost of fuel. Everything in this place at one time was on a truck. So, anytime you go to purchase anything, if you’re going to build anything, the price of fuel affects everything."
"So, with that being down... With the Gulf of America right out our door right here, beautiful Gulf Coast, no permitting, no drilling for four years. So, now that we can undo some of those cumbersome things that restricted energy production, you’re even going to see that in a more significant way, but it is on everybody’s mind. You know, it certainly is me at my house."
Then the kicker:
"And you know, you have so many proteins to choose from, and all commodities go through peaks and valleys. You know, it is a global market, but we will be seeing a difference I truly believe. Because of so many things: The tax cuts, people being hired, jobs created.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Hyde-Smith's remarks are quite something considering it’s conservatives who claim Democrats want to "take their burgers away"—even going so far as to claim that the Biden administration was looking to limit Americans' red meat consumption.
The claim traces back to a 2020 academic study from the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems, which modeled what environmental outcomes might look like if Americans voluntarily reduced their beef intake to about four pounds annually. The paper did not propose any mandate; it simply explored a hypothetical scenario.
Despite that, the idea quickly spiraled into political misinformation. The Daily Mail published an early report suggesting Biden’s climate agenda could force Americans to adopt such a diet.
Commentators on Fox News echoed the claim on air, often without verification, and Republican politicians soon amplified it further, helping transform a speculative academic exercise into a widely circulated falsehood.
Hyde-Smith was called out for hypocrisy.
Are we really surprised that this is coming from the party that happily reported on the rise of consumers turning to Hamburger Helper for meals even though that's a sign that the economy is in a very bad place?
The aforementioned Brooke Rollins was also criticized for saying Americans should "reconsider what they're eating," suggesting it "can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing."
No word on what that is but we're guessing it's definitely not beef.
@JamesTate121/X
