Reid blasts Obama on earmarks

By: Shira Toeplitz January 25, 2011 04:18 PM EST

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blasted President Barack Obama on earmarks in advance of his State of the Union address Tuesday, when he’s expected to call for a ban. “I think this is an issue that any president would like to have, that takes power away from the legislative branch of government,” said Reid. “I think it’s the wrong thing to do. I don’t think it’s helpful. It’s a lot of pretty talk, but it only gives the president more power. He’s got enough power already.” Nonetheless, Reid said he looked forward to the president’s annual address, which he hailed as a “vision for rebuilding America.” Senate Republicans also blasted the president in advance of his speech, where he is expected to call for a five-year spending freeze. Republicans say it does not go far enough. They want a return to 2008 spending levels, a plan backed by House Republicans. “The problem with that is it freezes in to place an extraordinary increase in spending over the past two years,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. “So it strikes most of us that the effort by the House of Representatives to get us back to the 2008 spending levels would be the direction to go if we really wanted to have an impact on our annual deficit problems.” McConnell pointed out the president asked for a three-year freeze on federal spending in last year’s State of the Union address. “We all have noticed with great interest that the president seems to be trying to head in a different direction,” said McConnell. “We hope it’s not just a rhetorical shift to the center, but an actual shift to the center,” said McConnell.