Free Republic

The massive spending deal, negotiated by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and agreed to by the president, looks poised to kill off the Budget Control Act of 2011—the law that was meant to restrain federal spending. With that law on the way out, the question arises: Where can fiscal conservatives turn to exert real and lasting fiscal discipline? Thankfully, two members of Congress have introduced a bill to do just that. The Maximizing America’s Prosperity Act—or MAP Act—is a bill proposed by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., that would limit federal spending...

A Fayetteville lawyer said construction of the Outer Loop highway connecting Interstate 95 north and south of Fayetteville stands to be delayed because of recent rulings in long-running lawsuits between the N.C. Department of Transportation and numerous landowners throughout the state. The rulings, one in Cumberland County Superior Court and another by the state Court of Appeals, rejected attempts by the Department of Transportation to buy people’s land under eminent domain without first paying the owners for the years that they were restricted by law in how they could use their property. Each ruling, by coincidence, was issued Nov. 21....