Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) insisted Tuesday that he would resist a proposal to ban earmarks that President Barack Obama is expected to introduce in his State of the Union address.

Speaking to reporters following the Democrats’ weekly caucus lunch, Reid made clear he had no intention of deviating from his long-standing support of the earmark process.

“I’m standing in the same place as I was,” Reid said. “It takes power away from the legislative branch of government. And I think that’s the wrong thing to do. I don’t think it’s helpful. It’s all — it’s a lot of pretty talk, but it is only giving the president more power. He’s got enough power already.”

Support for earmarks has historically been a bipartisan affair. But House and Senate Republicans recently adopted earmark bans for the balance of the 112th Congress.