The House approved a 2018 budget resolution Thursday that sets the stage for the Republican tax reform proposal released in late September.
The vote was 219-206, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats in opposing it.
House and Senate leaders will now have to reconcile the House budget resolution with one released Sept. 29 by the Senate Budget Committee. The Senate version paves the way for tax cuts by increasing the deficit up to $1.5 trillion, while the House resolution calls for $203 billion in spending cuts. The Senate is still working on a final version that will come to the floor for a vote in two weeks.
The House has already passed spending bills for fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1. The next deadline for Congress and the White House is Dec. 8, when a temporary spending measure for the federal government expires.
