Congressman Zach Wamp closed the debate on behalf of his party in favor of a budget that restrains spending and lowers taxes.

"Tax fairness's time has come," Wamp said during a late-night debate on the floor of the U.S. House. Wamp was speaking for a Republican budget that would reduce taxes by $150 billion over five years and against a Democratic alternative that would increase spending by more than twice the rate of inflation.

Wamp was chosen by Republicans as the final speaker for the GOP budget and against the version offered by U.S. Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee.

The budget, a blueprint for federal spending in the coming year, passed the House just after midnight on the morning March 24, shortly after Wamp spoke.