US House Republicans narrowly passed a budget Thursday and sent the controversial measure to Donald Trump's desk, opening the way for debate over his tax overhaul. The resolution, which passed along party lines 216 to 212, is widely acknowledged among lawmakers to be merely a vehicle for passing tax reform under terms favorable to Trump's party, as it contains special language that allows a tax plan to pass the Senate with a simple majority.

But with 20 Republicans voting no, including some in high-tax states who were worried that Trump's plan to end certain tax breaks would harm their constituents, the vote was a nailbiter. Trump, on Twitter, hailed the measure's passage as "big news," and the White House said the president was eager to work with lawmakers to overhaul the "rigged and burdensome" tax code.

Nine months into his presidency, Trump's tax gambit is the last chance to salvage key planks of his 2017 legislative agenda. He and Republican congressional leaders have said they want the deal passed by the end of the year. "By passing this budget today, House Republicans just provided the legislative runway for pro-growth tax reform," said House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady, the chief author of the as-yet-unfinished tax bill.

"Our successful vote will allow us to move forward quickly on delivering the first overhaul of America's tax code in more than three decades." Details of the tax plan are still being hammered out, but the general framework includes some $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, warned that the package would slash the federal health programs Medicare and Medicaid and "explode the deficit."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017