Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made an about turn by announcing that he now supports a ban on earmarks.

Nearly every day that the Senate’s been in session for the past two years, I have come down to this spot and said that Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people. When it comes to earmarks, I won’t be guilty of the same thing.

Make no mistake. I know the good that has come from the projects I have helped support throughout my state. I don’t apologize for them. But there is simply no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused Americans to view it as a symbol of the waste and the out-of-control spending that every Republican in Washington is determined to fight. And unless people like me show the American people that we’re willing to follow through on small or even symbolic things, we risk losing them on our broader efforts to cut spending and rein in government.

That’s why today I am announcing that I will join the Republican Leadership in the House in support of a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress.

McConnell also warned that an earmark ban would give Barack Obama more power over appropriations. Which is true. Earmarks are simply congressional directed uses of already-appropriated funds. Remove earmarks and it’s effectively up to the administration as to how to spend appropriated funds.