Balancing the budget... are some of the important issues I'm working on.
Work to balance the federal budget.
Occurrences
Evidence
Hyde-Smith announced she became a cosponsor of S.J.Res.24, a constitutional amendment requiring the President to submit and Congress to approve an annual balanced budget. The release also stated the bill was referred in the Senate.
Congress.gov lists Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as sponsor of S.J.Res.3, introduced January 4, 2019, with latest action read twice and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. CRS summarized it as barring outlays from exceeding receipts unless Congress authorized an exception.
Congress.gov lists Hyde-Smith as sponsor of S.J.Res.6, introduced February 3, 2021. The only recorded action was referral to Senate Judiciary; CRS described requirements for outlays not to exceed receipts and for the President to submit a balanced budget.
Congress.gov lists Hyde-Smith as sponsor of S.J.Res.13, introduced February 9, 2023, with 23 cosponsors. The recorded action was read twice and referred to Senate Judiciary; CRS summarized balanced-budget, spending-cap, tax-vote, and debt-limit provisions.
Treasury reported a cash-based federal budget deficit of about $1.775 trillion in FY2025, following a roughly $1.817 trillion deficit in FY2024; receipts remained below outlays.
The senator's official budget page says she has introduced legislation to amend the U.S. Constitution to require the President to submit and Congress to approve a balanced budget each year.
Treasury reports that the FY 2025 budget deficit was about $1.7754 trillion, meaning the federal budget was still not balanced in the latest completed fiscal year reported before the assessment date.
"The Senator has introduced legislation to amend the U.S. Constitution to require the President to submit, and Congress to approve, a balanced budget each year."
"The budget deficit decreased by $41.4 billion (2.3 percent) to $1.8 trillion" and the government's liabilities were $47.8 trillion, yielding a negative net position of $41.7 trillion.
Assessments
The promise was framed as an effort commitment to work toward a balanced federal budget, not as a guarantee that the federal budget would actually be balanced. Hyde-Smith repeatedly sponsored or cosponsored balanced-budget constitutional amendment legislation during her Senate service, including S.J.Res.3 in 2019, S.J.Res.6 in 2021, and S.J.Res.13 in 2023. The federal government still ran large deficits through FY2025, so the substantive fiscal outcome was not achieved, but the specific campaign commitment to work on the issue was fulfilled in the same federal term context through concrete legislative action.
Hyde-Smith made repeated concrete federal legislative efforts toward a balanced budget, including sponsoring balanced-budget constitutional amendment resolutions in 2019, 2021, and 2023 and cosponsoring related legislation in 2018. However, those measures did not advance beyond referral, and the federal budget was not balanced; Treasury reported a roughly $1.775 trillion FY2025 deficit. Because the promised fiscal outcome was not delivered despite serious legislative attempts, this counts as not fulfilled with an effort badge.
Hyde-Smith took concrete same-term legislative steps toward a balanced-budget requirement, including sponsoring or cosponsoring balanced-budget constitutional amendment resolutions in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023. However, those measures did not advance beyond referral, and the federal budget was not balanced; FY2024 and FY2025 both ended with large deficits. Under the instruction for serious but unsuccessful attempts, this is a failed delivery with effort recognized.