The members of Congress elected because of their support of Tea Party ideas has not even been sworn in yet, but they are having an impact.  The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that Senator Mitch McConnell announced Monday he would support a proposal put forward by conservative Republicans to ban so-called earmark spending in the new Congress.  Until today, Senator McConnell had been opposed to the ban on earmarks, saying that it would not save a significant amount of money.  Technically that may be true, but when you look at the earmarks added into the healthcare bill in order to pass it, earmarks become very expensive and have a tremendous impact. 

The article reports:

“McConnell’s announcement came after a meeting this morning with 12 of the 13 new GOP senators in his office. His fellow Republican leaders hailed the turnaround.

“”An earmark moratorium shows that elected officials are serious about restoring trust between the American people and those elected to represent them. This is a strong first step — though only a first step — towards making the tough choices required to get our country back on track,” Ohio Rep. John Boehner, likely to be the next speaker of the House, said in a statement.

“”Now that Republicans are taking real action to end wasteful spending, I hope President Obama follows through with his rhetoric and promises to veto any bill with Democrat earmarks,” DeMint said.”

Hopefully this is the beginning of turning off the money spigot in Washington and the dawn of a new era for the American taxpayer.